Monday 26 March 2012
English Party!
This weekend we finally ran out of excuses so helped them prepare a small English party. around 20 students turned up on Sunday afternoon and we played twister, had them sing songs, follow the leader, and took some pictures etc, it was actually really fun! and the kids I think enjoyed a bit of time to relax before back into studying Sunday evening (!). A few pictures of the event included!
Sunday 25 March 2012
Sad news from China!
It is with sad news that I report the death of a loving part of our little family, Earl Grey the turtle.
For a while now Early Grey has been unwell, not moving much, not eating anything in weeks and his eye always seemed a little sick but a few days ago Chris bought a new turtle (Tetley) and some new fish for its tank.
For a while now Early Grey has been unwell, not moving much, not eating anything in weeks and his eye always seemed a little sick but a few days ago Chris bought a new turtle (Tetley) and some new fish for its tank.
At the start they seemed to get on well but a few days later and a suspicious lack of movement on their part shows that both turtles had left us. A little sad but we buried them in the school together, as seemed fitting!
Rest in peace turtles! here are some pictures to remember them with...
Rest in peace turtles! here are some pictures to remember them with...
A friendly trip to the police station!
I wanted to get my license to drive in china, not that intend to buy a car but partly as something to do!
Elaine and i went to the local lingxi traffic office to ask about taking the test as international licenses don't apply here and was told no. Not in this small town I would have to go to the big city and bring my license, passport, visa and local police residency permit, all translated of cause!
The first problem was that although when I first arrived I had registered with the police for a local residency permit it had lapsed more than a year ago and we hadn't gone to get another. The police station was only open during office hours and so I had to skip a morning class to drive over to the police station, we wandered into the right office and found the right man but unfortunately he was way too busy to fill out the form, but if we could get the form, he was the only man who could stamp it! the only man in lingxi who would condescend to actually fill out the form was in another police station in another part of town and also was now in a meeting.... Game over!
The next day we went again to the other police station to find him and walking into a police station with a big protected office were instantly invited to come on round and sit down!
At first he didn't know which form or kept insisting that we didnt need a form at all but eventually he understood and found the page we needed a copy of on his computer.
Wow! It was a list of everything about me in china, listing everything, every entry and exit, every visa, every hotel I had stayed in, he let us have a quick look, pretty scary stuff! (I even tried to snap a quick picture but the angle made it tricky, my travels circled in red).
With it found he pressed print and... Half the document came out! Doh, turns out the page was too wide for the page but because of the Locked down page we could change the view to make it fit! he spent a few minutes trying to sort it and printing a few more useless corners before looking at us a bit embaressed... I decided to put my IT degree to use and motioned to have a go! he left me so I took over the mouse and keyboard on the police terminal to try to get it to work, a few different methods were tried but in the end I took a few printscreens and stitched them together in paint to get the full page, a few dodgy joins but it looked ok printed on a crappy laser printer!
I noticed on the policeman's desk a folder, which I also snapped a sneaky picture of, which, as most things in China, had some English on the front, the English was:
"The silence often of pure innocence, persuades when speaking fails"
very appropriate for a police station don't you think!
With the document sorted we now needed it stamped but of course he couldn't do that, back to the main police station across town to find the man with the stamp who, after initially refusing to stamp anything, grudgingly stamped half of it a few times in a non commital way before saying the rest wasn't needed and so he wouldn't stamp it! Nevermind! Hopefully they will accept it!
After that i made it back to class just in time to give the last class before lunch, sorted! on to wenzhou!!
Elaine and i went to the local lingxi traffic office to ask about taking the test as international licenses don't apply here and was told no. Not in this small town I would have to go to the big city and bring my license, passport, visa and local police residency permit, all translated of cause!
The first problem was that although when I first arrived I had registered with the police for a local residency permit it had lapsed more than a year ago and we hadn't gone to get another. The police station was only open during office hours and so I had to skip a morning class to drive over to the police station, we wandered into the right office and found the right man but unfortunately he was way too busy to fill out the form, but if we could get the form, he was the only man who could stamp it! the only man in lingxi who would condescend to actually fill out the form was in another police station in another part of town and also was now in a meeting.... Game over!
The next day we went again to the other police station to find him and walking into a police station with a big protected office were instantly invited to come on round and sit down!
At first he didn't know which form or kept insisting that we didnt need a form at all but eventually he understood and found the page we needed a copy of on his computer.
Wow! It was a list of everything about me in china, listing everything, every entry and exit, every visa, every hotel I had stayed in, he let us have a quick look, pretty scary stuff! (I even tried to snap a quick picture but the angle made it tricky, my travels circled in red).
With it found he pressed print and... Half the document came out! Doh, turns out the page was too wide for the page but because of the Locked down page we could change the view to make it fit! he spent a few minutes trying to sort it and printing a few more useless corners before looking at us a bit embaressed... I decided to put my IT degree to use and motioned to have a go! he left me so I took over the mouse and keyboard on the police terminal to try to get it to work, a few different methods were tried but in the end I took a few printscreens and stitched them together in paint to get the full page, a few dodgy joins but it looked ok printed on a crappy laser printer!
I noticed on the policeman's desk a folder, which I also snapped a sneaky picture of, which, as most things in China, had some English on the front, the English was:
"The silence often of pure innocence, persuades when speaking fails"
very appropriate for a police station don't you think!
With the document sorted we now needed it stamped but of course he couldn't do that, back to the main police station across town to find the man with the stamp who, after initially refusing to stamp anything, grudgingly stamped half of it a few times in a non commital way before saying the rest wasn't needed and so he wouldn't stamp it! Nevermind! Hopefully they will accept it!
After that i made it back to class just in time to give the last class before lunch, sorted! on to wenzhou!!
Authentic Food!
This week we finally found some food I had heard of in England!
I found a woman outside selling spring rolls! So I bought a few, they were very tasty indeed! And also we found "Kung Pao chicken" in a restaurant, nothing special really but one of the English takeaway favourites! Chinese food in England has been ruined forever! I can never go back....
I found a woman outside selling spring rolls! So I bought a few, they were very tasty indeed! And also we found "Kung Pao chicken" in a restaurant, nothing special really but one of the English takeaway favourites! Chinese food in England has been ruined forever! I can never go back....
We are out of beer!
Monday 12 March 2012
A year today!
so today, march the 11th, is my one year anniversary!
Not my anniversary of arriving in china but my anniversary of learning Chinese!
Elaine and I were chatting and looking for a new note book when we found an old notebook of hers, it had only one entry, some notes she made of her preparation for our first Chinese lesson, and the date! 2011.03.11!
We decided it would be fitting to have another Chinese lesson exactly one year later and so today we did that! And we also finished up the last page in the moleskine book I use for learning Chinese, a perfectly coincidental round trip, one year, one book, and a lot of lessons!
Thank you Elaine if you read this! wode zhongwen Yue Lai yue hao! My Chinese is getting better and better!
Not my anniversary of arriving in china but my anniversary of learning Chinese!
Elaine and I were chatting and looking for a new note book when we found an old notebook of hers, it had only one entry, some notes she made of her preparation for our first Chinese lesson, and the date! 2011.03.11!
We decided it would be fitting to have another Chinese lesson exactly one year later and so today we did that! And we also finished up the last page in the moleskine book I use for learning Chinese, a perfectly coincidental round trip, one year, one book, and a lot of lessons!
Thank you Elaine if you read this! wode zhongwen Yue Lai yue hao! My Chinese is getting better and better!
Sunday 11 March 2012
First office teaching
Spent most of the day before preparing but it was worth it, a car came to pick me up from the school and drive me the half hour over to the next town where the company is. It is a pretty big company, around 200 employees, making stickers and paper bags, including for vogue!
I arrived and taught a class of 8 students 25-30 years old, 7 girls and a guy, and taught them English business phone manner and a few useful things to say, as well as some general speaking exercises which went well, although some of them are still a bit shy! After the lesson they sent me £100 for a 2 hour lesson, not bad! a shame I'm not sure they have time for it to be a regular thing as that would definitely be a nice bonus but my highest salary yet, £50 an hour, haha, and well the 7 young women thing doesn't hurt!
Recently they got an order to produce materials for the Oxford England 5km fundraising run due to happen soon, they showed me the flyer, it is at blenheim palace I think, right near Oxford! They will also donate to the fundraising! A crazy link across the world!
I arrived and taught a class of 8 students 25-30 years old, 7 girls and a guy, and taught them English business phone manner and a few useful things to say, as well as some general speaking exercises which went well, although some of them are still a bit shy! After the lesson they sent me £100 for a 2 hour lesson, not bad! a shame I'm not sure they have time for it to be a regular thing as that would definitely be a nice bonus but my highest salary yet, £50 an hour, haha, and well the 7 young women thing doesn't hurt!
Chris has also had his first meeting with the girl he is teaching on the side, and sorted out a decent paycheck for his time, all good really! Its going to be a really busy month for him though!
My students have an english party this afternoon so I will see how that goes if i remember to turn up! and a day chilling out before back into the thick of it tomorrow! eh! Showed my students Wallace and Gromit last week so hardly a taxing weeks work, but still!
Saturday 10 March 2012
Teaching in a company!
Have the day off today due to student exams and so of course by 12 Chris is still not up! A usual non working day for him! I've been up for a few hours working away as tomorrow I teach in a nearby company, the pay is good but I havn't really got any idea of what to teach so I'm trying to prepare a good 2 hour lesson for them, I really want to make a good impression and keep them coming back for more!
Chris has also been sucked into another teaching job teaching a child preparing for their English visa exam, a job he is completely under prepared and unqualified for, but I'm sure we will both get by! haha!
Friday 9 March 2012
Guess the meat answer and two more pictures..
Chris was not even up for trying it but I got stuck in and it actually tasted really nice. Not like chicken or any such rubbish but had its own unique and tasty meaty flavour.
The skin was a bit chewy when cold but heated the skin was also nice, but the meat was the real highlight, apparently this restaurant is famous in all the nearby towns for its dog meat and it was not cheap so I'm sure you mileage may vary but I was very impressed. I would definitely try it again, and would happily eat it from that place again. One of the nicest things I've eaten so far!
There is also attached a picture of all of us in the restaurant after our meal!
Monday 5 March 2012
A new game of.... guess the meat!
(this post best read in a cheesy quiz show voice)
So at Springs meal there was a speciality food they got just for me, but I will let you guess what it was, it is obviously a meat, but what meat? Answer on a SAE addressed to:
Nathan
Somewhere in China
Who really knows where?
Its a big damn place!
Post always goes missing anyway
CH1NA 123
Answers tomorrow evening and a luxury imported prize for the first correct answer!
Good night viewers!
Spring took us for a meal!
She is from a nearby small town that used to be separate town but is now being assimilated into this town. Elaine drove and Chris, I and Spring all piled in and off we went, it was only half an hour to drive and when we arrived spring picked up some special food from her friend and asked her friend who brought the food to join us. Her friend spoke no english but at least good practise for my chinese!
We arrived at a small restaurant and ordered a huge variety of food with accompanying "wow foreigners" from everyone around. The restaurant was completely deserted apart from us in our small room and luckily the attached KTV room was luckily quiet, despite springs offers to the contrary!
We had a lovely meal and chatted in English, Chinese, Minan and a local variant of Wenzhou hua, not bad, 4 language between 5 people! Chris and I offering the least in the language competition. We ordered way too many dishes, including possible the best fish I have tried! The food filled a table for 8-10 with plates stacked on plates, and with only 5 people it was never going to happen! Including some special dishes, one of which I guess deserves a separate blog post (coming soon).
After the meal we went to take a look around the town a bit and went to a nearly deserted temple. We walked along its high imposing walls and springs friend knocked repeatedly on the door but to avail, nobody came to let us in! Luckily Springs friend went to the back entrance and managed to open a service door and let us in, she seemed to act like she owned the place so we just copied her lead.
The temple complex was big, and completely deserted, I am not sure a tourist had ever visited, and definitely never a foreign tourist! The few temple workers and monks around didn't pay us any notice as we looked at a large state over a tutle pond, looked into the main halls and took pictures wherever we wanted with nobody giving us bad looks and nobody telling us off (like they usually do in the touristy temples) I even took a picture in the main prayer room in front of the most important statue in the temple with no problems!
After having a good look around and being joined by Springs friend's mother and young (7 or so) cousin we carried on out the bank into a second huge building. On the ground floor was an active prayer room and a yoga type room we skirted by with a just a look and made out way to a back staircase, up several flights of stairs we entered a large room taking the whole top floor which was filled to the rafters with small golden statues of Buddha!
After having a good look around and being joined by Springs friend's mother and young (7 or so) cousin we carried on out the bank into a second huge building. On the ground floor was an active prayer room and a yoga type room we skirted by with a just a look and made out way to a back staircase, up several flights of stairs we entered a large room taking the whole top floor which was filled to the rafters with small golden statues of Buddha!
This room was amazing, apparently for 200RMB (£20) you can buy a small statue (although not remove it) and then it will stay in the room in your name. Very amazing and beautiful even when you realise they are obviously not real gold! but still amazing! Pictures, of course, to come....
After this we made out way out and back to the car but stopped off to drop of Springs friend and mum and take a look around their house, they insisted that we take home some freshly grown vegetables from their back garden and before we knew what had happened we were loaded up with 2 carrier bags of fresh greens that she stomped around her backgarden allotment picking in the rain in her wellies, unfortunately we have no idea how to cook them! But they look very tasty... I think she was very happy to spend some time with some foreigners, and in fact had several pictures taken with us to show off to her daughter (who is at university) that she spent the time with us! she was lovely, as were they all, and the meal was lovely too! A very nice day!
First a few pictures of the restaurant and Elaine and Spring eating away!
China's next leader
I found out something interesting, Xi Jing Ping, The next leader of China has visited my school! Several years ago now but he started as the governor for ZheJiang, my province, and visited one of the leading schools, which was my school, my boss has shaken his hand! I wonder if this school will be remembered when the transition happens over the next few months....
Incidentally on a lighter note I also cooked way too much rice so took what I wanted and put the rest out for Chris, he tried to eat the lot and is now feeling incredibly sick and bloated with rice, not helped by the face that for the last few days he was on the immodium. haha fun times! at least I got a laugh..
I had a meeting on Sunday with a local business that wants me to give some english lessons to their staff! Which would be cool.. and maybe a way into some Chinese business! So will see how the first lesson goes next weekend, just got to plan my lesson!! a bit nervous truth be told but i'm sure it will go ok!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)