Mexican Jazz

Chris wanted to show off his cooking prowess for his friend and so invited Geoff and I over for dinner and he was going to cook some Mexican food for us! 
He bought the stuff he needed down town and we went up to his flat and had a lovely meal together, he cooked some great food and we had a good time, although no good pictures!

Afterwards when I was out taking pictures with Mina we had found out that there was a Jazz concert on that night and so Chris and I, his friend, Mina, Geoff, Gary and his wife all went out to find it! We walked to the other side of the campus and arrived about half way through and then had a great hour of Jazz with a short term foreign teacher from America doing an amazing job on Sax, he was amazing!

On the way back we did a little shopping and Geoff bought two hats, one of which Chris took a shine to! and then we headed back to mine and had a few drinks at home.

Photography around campus

I wanted to take some more pictures around the campus in the autumn and yesterday was a lovely day with clear skies and good late afternoon light so Mina and I went for a walk and took lots of pictures around the campus which was cool. We explored a bit more as well,and I took a few pictures of a roller blading chinese guy. 

I also finally went to number one building! (nothing special) and we found the captains school, with every nautical theme you can imagine! The building was shaped like a ship! There was a ship parked outside! and a lake with an emergency escape boat and several (flooded) row boats! Cool!

I took a picture of a local seller making some tasty snacks and then there was a beautiful sunset from the balcony of my building so I managed to photograph that too, and then a clear moon came out too! A lovely walk and a lovely days photography!

Photo Opportunity

The lizard I have been keeping for a few days seemed unhappy so I decided to release him soon back into the wild, before that however I wanted to take a few pictures.

I opened his tank and took some pictures of him sitting on upturned cup in the tank, he seemed very docile and didn't move so I took him out and photographed on the cup still with a nicer background, still no movement so I lent the cup oer for some nicer lighting, still nothing, so I took a few more pictures, then finally he stretched a foot down and I got a nice picture of him, and then as soon as I lifted up the cup to put him back in the tank he made a break for it, straight down and under my desk. DAMNIT! 
I wanted to release him but didn't want him trapped in my room all winter so I had to get him back, half an hour later after pulling out the desk and various other schemes I managed to trap him as he made a break for the underside of my bedside table, phew! I will let him out later, goodbye lovely lizard!

 

My house now!

A few pictures of my house now it is actually being lived in, and a bit messier than the last few pictures I sent! 

Chinese Foreigner Exam!

I got an email from our boss/employer/case manager/liason officer/whatever she wants to be called asking me to go onto a website and fill in an exam! Apparently this year all the foreigners (in the city/province/country) need to take an exam on the internet, this was all I know, little did I know how strange it would be! 

I logged onto the website to find a poorly designed website but luckily in English. It first pushed me through an account setup script, as I wasn't sure what was going to happen to the data and most fields were not compulsory I left it as blank as I could without being intentionally evasive. (except for the field titled "Passport:" to which I felt it fine to answer 'yes')

After registration first was a profile builder asking you to enter basically all the information on your cv but in tiny text boxes and in different ways and would have taken ages, luckily it wasn't required so I left most of it blank.

The next task was a 20 minute "Behaviour Style Test" which had 180 behavioural qualities for me to rate myself from  strongly agree to strongly disagree, and to be fair, it did state in the introduction that I must be truthful and self critical. However when it came to the the questions in reality there was only 90, the other 90 were the original 90 asked in reverse,

So for every:

I am quick to anger there was an equal I am not quick to anger.

The best of these questions included do you:

• Love large parties
  
• Radiate Joy
• Would never cheat on my taxes
• Like order
• Try to follow the rules
• Get my chores done on time
• Often feel blue
• Am easily intimidated
• Have a lot of fun
• Laugh outloud
• Misjudge situations
• Yell at people
• Leave a mess in my room
• Avoid crowds
• Turn my back on others
• Take advantage of others
• Don't know why I do some of the things I do
• Express childlike joy
• Pay my bills on time
• Get to work at once
• Go on Binges

And other fantastic questions. Once I finished this chapter I got a score of 83 out of 100, not bad, but not great either, I'm not exactly sure what they were looking for, but who knows! 

The next 20 minutes 20 question section was a 'Basic Knowledge Test', this section included questions on classical literature, geography  Chinese law, English teaching methodologies, and anything and anything the questioners thought relevant, also very amusing, a selection of the best is below:

• The European renaissance originated in which country? (venice, vienna, paris, rome)
• In Shakespeare's work, in which play is 'To be or not to be' proposed?
• What year did Hong Kong and Macau return to Chinese government?
• According to the memory loss curve, memory loss occurs in which pattern?
• Which of these does NOT typify the attitude of Chinese students towards their foreign teachers study of the Chinese language? (
• In The case of an argument between you and a street pedlar over goods which action should NOT be taken? (Defame the seller in front of other customers)
• Which of these authors did his work during the renaissance? (Homer, Dante, Goethe, Hemingway)

And many other excellent examples of sheer randomness. On this part I achieved 80%, (although their sneaky plan lock down internet explorer so I couldn't google anything didn't account for me having 5 different browsers installed outside of its control) and then I was left with only the final part, the writing exam.

This was a 15 minutes exam in which I had to write 200 words explaining my view on the recent changes in work stress levels, which once written came back with an instant score of 75%, without any allowed time for anyone to have read it, so their mark scheme must be entirely automated! 

With the exam finished and many many screenshots taken I submitted my answers and started writing a blog post, still smiling over the madness of the Chinese system.... Attached are a few screenshots of the test process in all its glory, and as supportive evidence! 

New bike

The campus out here is pretty damn big and it takes 15 mins to walk to the place where I teach from where I live so I decided to get myself a bike! I spoke with one of Elaine's old students who goes to ningbo university and she said that there was a mobile phone deal where you top up 300rmb, £30, and then they will give it back to you over 12 months, and they give you a free bike! This seemed the perfect deal and a nice take on the idea of a contract, which is non existent out here with everyone buying their phone outright and doing pay as you go. 
I went with Eunice, Elaine's student, to the place to get the bike and was told I couldn't, some random reason to do with where I had bought my sim and how long it took to be brought into the network, however they said wait a week, fine!
A week later I went back and they said yes, all is fine, excellent, I gave them 300rmb and they gave me..... A voucher, redeemable at a completely different place! Doh! After the first week they don't have any on campus and so you need to go to the nearest main branch! Apparently not too far...
Eunice and I started walking and found it was further than we had been led to believe! We walked from the school out and along and around the whole perimeter of the south campus to the opposite side and eventually found it! Walking in was very cool, through the small shop, through a closed and empty night club behind that, into a tiny store room full of bikes! I was told to pick one of the two types and away we went. If we had thought about it Eunice could have brought her bike and we could have cycled back, but she didn't, and upon closer inspection the bike tires were flat, and a little buckled! The chain guard was also rubbing and a few more bits needed adjustment, I did those myself though when I got back and got a nice little single speed bike out of it! Lovely!

So I did this, and here is a picture of the wonderful free bike in all its glory! 

Productive weekend!

Since Chris was busy with his friend all weekend for the first time since I arrived here I had a weekend with no plans, nothing I HAD to do, nowhere I HAD to go, and so could relax and do some stuff that needed doing.

I spent Saturday productively, studying Chinese and getting through 2 chapters, and getting a bit of exercise. Then in the evening I watched a film with Geoff the American before we went out down to the town centre for some social drinks at Laowaitan. Meeting up with some Icelandic guys we know and sitting around chatting rubbish and drinking until 4 or 5 am when people wandered back. 
Sunday was a bit of a late start and I woke up to Gary (Australian) at my door asking for an Ipad charger for his friend. I went down and got chatting with them and their American friend Tim, we grabbed lunch together before Tim shot off back to Shanghai by train and I tidied the house a bit and got ready for another week! 

New pet!

Continuing my Chinese spree of strange pets outside Chris's flat, sitting on the wall, I saw a lizard, so using a cup, and in this cold weather, especially at night, I caught him and put him into a tank in my room (with a lid). I tried feeding him mosquitoes and a little water, and he makes a lovely pet for a few days before I release him back into the wild!

Test!!

This week I have been preparing my students for a test that they don't know is coming, both in Writing and Speaking, and then this week I also found out that if I sit the Chinese exam I might be eligible for academic credits to my name! A great incentive I wish I had known before, so I have to study 2 terms of characters, in half a term, and then sit an exam, and pass, but I might be able to get a certificate! Which would be cool! It would be very hard work, but I might be able to do it! Jiayou! (come on! (lit. Add petrol))

Lovely meal

After a long week back at school I finally had a weekend with no plans this weekend, in fact most of the people I know are busy or away, even Chris is busy with his friend coming to visit for a week so I have time to sit down and prepare classes, study chinese, all the other thousands of things I've been putting off, (yes including blogging, I'm sorry I'm sorry!)

However at lunch Liandi mentioned that their friend had a meal tonight, and would I like to come too? I accepted and they drove and picked Liandi and I up and together we went to their house for a home cooked meal.

Her friends husband doesn't speak much English and all the conversation (nearly) was in Chinese, a good percentage of which I followed, which was promising, I even managed to make a few related comments on a few stories, and tell a few small stories myself, a good step towards taking a more active part in Chinese conversations between Chinese people going on around me... A big step and very different from taking part when they are obviously speaking to you, a little carefully and a little slowly!
That is not to say I understood everything, but a good amount, I was happy with it!

I had a good meal and a good talk in their lovely house and they dropped me home, very very nice people, and very welcoming to a strange foreigner who dropped by at the last minute! 

Wuzhen day 2

The next day at 7 we were up at 7 and out by 8, we checked out and I decided to keep my bag with me, as most of it was photography stuff I might want, Chris left his at the hotel and they said they would bring it to the coach.

There was supposed to be a photo at 8 am but at 7.50 we were told to go eat, and chris needed his breakfast so we went to eat as we were worried we would leave straight after the photo, and if they wanted us they would come to find us, but they never did, and the rest wandered in for breakfast after the photo and found us there already, nevermind! Plenty of photos!

After breakfast we had a tour guide lead us around the town but Chris and I mostly ignored her and wandered around taking pictures as we liked and looking where we wanted, it was a very relaxing walk around the town and some lovely pictures. 
At one point I sat on a bridge to take a photo and a Chinese woman sat down with me and asked me to take a photo together, Chris decided to take a picture of me with her too! haha! (attached, me and the girl with the purple scarf, and I think her mother too!)

I saw a cat sleeping in a shop entrance and managed to grab a nice picture, and a few more around town, including one of Chris and another teacher playing dress up in some hats they found in the street!

I also saw a cormorant fisherman rowing his boat through the town, he then stopped, fished a little, and then pulled out his bottle of coke for a swig, so Chinese! The old and the new!

Near the end of the walk we found a statue of an anime character and so I stopped for a silly picture, but also took some nice day time pictures around the town. At the end of the tour we went on the most pointless 80m boat ride over a small lake that, by the time we got on and off, would have been quicker to just walk the path around each side! Nevermind!

After the walk and the amazing boat ride we eventually made it back to the bus and found a problem, Chris's bag wasn't there! Luckily the tour guide got it brought over and saved the day! lucky!

We drove back for an hour or so and stopped by the huge bridge going from Ningbo over the mouth of a huge bay towards Shanghai, the day before on the way over we had gone over it in heavy fog and could see nothing, but unfortunately today our viewpoint wasn't great and we couldn't see anything either. We were however at a fish farm and wetland area and so we went for lunch there which was O.K, the chicken soup was nice, and the duck tasty, the chicken stomach was actually O.K. but I'm not sure I would eat it by choice... not as nice as the pigs feet last weekend in Hangzhou...

At the meal Chris chose two cubes of some tofu they had left on the table and found it to be strongly flavoured with chinese 50 perfect proof rice wine, he however didn't give up and finished his double helping, when he remarked on its flavour the other people at the table were amazed, apparently very few chinese people dare to eat it due to its strong salty alcohol flavour and at most eat a tiny sliver as an after dinner digestive aid, chris had eaten two whole cubes!  

After lunch we walked around the lake a little and watched people fish but nobody in the group wanted to try their hand at fishing, and so a vote was taken to head back to Ningbo. Luckily at exactly this time my camera battery gave out, perfect timing! So we all got on the bus together back home, they dropped us off at the end of our road very tired but happy with our trip, and looking forward to a sunday to relax a bit!!

Fwd: Weekend trip to wuzhen

The school does a series of trips to random places, in theory for meetings but in reality for some team bonding and binge drinking, not necessarily in that order, and this year was no exception with a planned trip to WuZhen, a water town similar in idea to Venice, based around a canal system, but not on anywhere near as grand a scale, but a lot more quaint! 

The nice thing about an organised trip is the price, free!  

The trip was on friday and friday lunchtime I was eating in the school when I got talking to one of the teachers, I talked about where I worked before, wenzhou, she was from wenzhou, actually I said, I'm from Cangnan, she said wow she was also from Cangnan, actually I said from Lingxi, wow she said me too! I said I worked at Cangnan Zhong Xue, wow she said, she lived really close! Amazing! so we chatted for a while over lunch and she was also going on the trip!

I taught my classes as usual on the friday until 2.30 and then went straight to the bus waiting outside to leave for the trip! I packed a bag with my camera, tripod, spare lenses, and some sort of clothes or some other unimportant things... 

With all this away we went and I chatted some more with the girl i met at lunch Phoenix, and got a bit of a rest on the bus, as it would be a busy trip!

We arrived at around 5.30 into WuZhen and after 20 minutes milling around got our tickets (free) and into the park! As it was already late and raining we went straight to our hotel  (although i took as many pictures as I could on the way) and checked in, Chris and I were sharing a room, but this room was not the usual one room twin beds affair, when you walked in the room had a small sitting room, with no windows, just two chairs and a (locked) fridge of beer etc, then a corridoor led back on one side with the bathroom first, very nicely done out, and then first chris's room, with wooden slat covered windows opening into the coridoor, and then my room at the end, with a small window into an alley, so seperate single rooms, but behind a single door, but each room had its own key card, very strange! The hotel itself was very nice and usually our twin room was 880 a night, (88GBP, 8 is the luckiest number out here..) and it was all very clean and well done out, the bed was very soft memory foam and the covers very comfortable. Unfortunately we didn't get much time to relax, 5 minutes after putting down my bag and taking out the few clothes I bought we got a knock to leave for the evening meal! I grabbed my bag with camera, tripod etc and shot out, with chris following 10 minutes later. 

We walked 5 minutes into the town and went to a lovely restaurant down a series of back alleys, attached together by old style bridges and nicely done out, we spread the 30 teachers over 3 tables and the meal began. There was plenty of food and lots of new things to try, including the local wine, around 11 percent so not too strong, and quite tasty! Chris and I were careful however and didn't drink much, before long the 'cheersing' that Chinese people love came out and we had the chance to drink as much as we could as all of the teachers individually share a shot of wine together, ok in small groups, and once around, but with a huge group, and of course you must cheers them back, and then several rounds, it can get pretty intense and before long our table had put away 7/8 bottles of wine, to much merriment. As the food started to wane the teachers started to mix between tables and the cheersing started all over again! We were strongly hinted to do the same and move down the table, especially to the table with the dean and vice deans on and drink a glass with them, which was good fun, and make some jokes, and make our face known a bit! 

After the meal eventually finished we had two choices, go to KTV and sing, or go on a boat ride, I however had been dying to try and take some pictures so I made my excuses and Chris and I, along with another teacher from my office, headed off together to take some pictures! 

I had my tripod and so setup and took as many as I could of the night scene, before the 10pm light shutoff time and we walked about half way around the village exploring and photographing in the light rain, getting some beautiful shots! 

We got back to the hotel at 11 after a very long day and the teacher retired to his room leaving Chris and I alone with a locked beer fridge. It turns out that as Chris inspected it the fridge fell open in his hands without any damage and so we had a beer in the room before an early bed, knowing we had to be up at 7 the next morning!