China - Day 67

China - Day 66

China - Day 65

Local School Day!

Started out really early to avoid the rush hour

Then all loaded on to the team bus.....

For the trip North to the outskirts of Jinzhou

where I did an English language teaching class and we met some more nice kids....

before heading back to our luxury quarters

China - Day 64

Monday is the first of my days off. Spent the day on an audio project (vid)

China Day 63

Up with the larks. First lesson at 0800 on the far North side of town. Took a taxi, not sure about the driver (vid)

Then had some time between the morning and the afternoon sessions so took a walk in the Spring sunshine

Roadside spice entrepreneur

China Day 62

Learned that the lady who makes the breakfast pancakes  (Day 59) has been kicked off the compound - boo - too much competition? Good lunch again - Chinese sushi - lots of sweet topping and colouring (vid)_.

Had to think before writing colour - we are adoption the American spellings here at StarSplendo(u)r!

China - Day 61

Spent the day preparing for lessons at the weekend and on some project work. Second day out in my shorts! (vid)

China - Day 60

Good day today - Steve has allowed me to take a few days off to go to the Philippines for a sunshine break. In return I need to work flexibly on a couple of projects. All good! Celebrated with a sizzling Sichuan supper (thank you Tim)

China - Day 59

Breakfast in the sunshine (vid)

and after the morning tutorial, lunch and early evening lessons I landed up in the local Wall Mart (vid)

China - Day 58

Another day in Beijing - woke early to get out on the boulevards

and got the tube to a Taoist temple with a department dedicated to my brother Mike Palmer

and another department dedicated to my father Brian Palmer

there was no goldenballs department but I found something for Helen Palmer (vid)

and then took an orderly train home to Jinzhou from an orderly station filled with orderly people (vid)

Day 57

Today woke early for the trip off to the airport (vid)

OMG a bread craving - went to a breakfast cafe this morning near Dongzhimen (vid)

Then went to Ritan Park to chill out (vid).

Bright sunshine (vid)

Baby entertainment (vid)

Interesting behaviour (vid)

and dancing.

Dominoes Pizza today at lunch time in the Diplomatic Quarter just South of Ritan Park to order a Crispy Chicken pizza and got served a sort of brioche with  pineapple (sweet) and cherry tomatoes (sweet) and a custard (sweet) on top with the chicken (savoury) surrounded by a sweet batter.

Synchronised music and waterworks (vid)

And a pair of trousers (vid)

Then went back to the breakfast café for what looked like a bacon sandwich but turned out to be brioche with bacon and a slightly cheesy sweet custard on the inside

Day 56

Had a great class with some English beginners and Sharkpark was a success then went off to Beijing for the weekend! (vid).

Found the metro to the hotel OK, and during the journey the taxi driver and the cashier on the metro both understood my Chinese (result!!!!!) and found the Oriental Garden hotel very easily, walking from Dongzhimen tube station.

China - Day 55

Today I went to one of the schools in North Jinzhou (JieFang) to teach in the morning and arrived too early (vid).

During a break in classes I had a coffee (vid).

Need to prepare tonight because I am going off to Beijing for a short break tomorrow after the afternoon educational event at Sharkpark

China - Day 54

Had a virus overnight and couldn't sleep. I am told that in China lots of people if they have a virus they go to the hospital for an IV infusion

Later today I spent some time thinking about what to say on the advert that will be filmed next week to try to attract new students for StarSplendor School (vid)

China - Day 53

Day 53 - went to Sharkpark in the morning to prepare for our Science/English class on Sunday. Experiment preparation (vid)

to illustrate emulsification using milk, oily colours and detergent (vid).

Headache and cold  later so went to bed early

China - Day 52

Had wontons for lunch - thank you Steve - (vid)

and then went on the back of the Harley Davidson (vid)

to take a ride back to the office in ShiYan before going back on the Harley to GuTa for a StarSplendor promotion (vid)

The one where phil wanted a number one but got a number two

After breakfast chased a ride on a Number 1 bus

via Guta Park (vid)

- but got distracted by a Number 2 which flirted with me so successfully that I took it and ended up at the airport! (vid)

Then bussed back into town and marvelled at the doubled bus fare on the Number 203 (from 10p to 20p = outrage! and recovered my composure with a coffee while marvelling at the Jinzhou municipal workers (vid)

China - Day 50

Day 50 - made a late start (vid)

didn't have to wait long for the bus and when I got to RT Mart the pillows promotion was over! time to think again! Made me grumpy so I went for a coffee in KFC (vid)

and then waited for the bus home (vid)

China - Day 49

Full day teaching today and really enjoyed it including the feeling that Winter is nearly over

China - Day 48

Had five classes across the North part of the city in Guta, then came home to the sound of music outside my compound. They are there every night at 1830 and have been every night since the end of Spring Festival

China - Day 47

Spent the day preparing for the weekends classes and later opened a packet of croissants (vid)

China Day 46

Spent the day preparing activities and resources for the classroom and in the evening Steve took me to a luxury bath house, where we spent some time in the pools and the sauna and then went upstairs for the show

Loud but fun........

And there was even a compere............................................................

And we had our feet massaged while we watched......

Which was very relaxing.....

And then we went to chill in an adjacent lounge.....

The Bath house is open 24/7 but there's work the next day so we picked up our shoes and the tab in the lobby and left happy.......

China - Day 45

Spent the morning doing a training session for the local Chinese teachers. Had freshly made sushi for lunch (vid) and in the afternoon did some preparation of flashcards for teaching, No classes until Saturday -just prep

China - Day 44

Tuesday is the second of my two days off - errands today - back to work tomorrow - got my Beijing train tickets!

China Day 43

A day shopping
1) Fruits of the New Year Gift card

2) Fruits of RT Mart (a Chinese Asda)

China Day 42

China Day 41

Today I taught three classes and I will give myself 3 out of 10 for technical ability, 5 out of 10 for artistic interpretation and 8 out of 10 for effort. At breaktime watched a street game (vid)

China Day 40

Big day tomorrow - flying solo with my teaching! Prepped and practiced today and celebrated at lunch time with some street snacks

Little batter balls cooked on a griddle with a bit of octopus in it

Little fried potato and shredded chicken waffles

China Day 39

China State Television CCTV5

China Day 38

I stayed up until 0530 this morning to watch SFC v. Bournemouth. Watched the first half but couldn't take any more. During the build up to the match I watched Cnina's Got Talent (sort of thing) on the TV. Many child prodigies (vid)

In the afternoon I did another observed teaching afternoon and Tim gave me feedback - am having difficulty thinking up complexities and simplicities on the spot when the lesson plan needs to change - Tim has been doing this job for a long time and has no difficulty with this - tomorrow we will work on lesson structure and also thrash out the rules for some of the activities that I attempted to use today. In the evening I ate out

China Day 37 - Tuesday 1st March 2016

China Day 37. Yesterday I went for my chicken and rice (vid)

at the roadside stall across the way (vid).

Today I spent the morning prepping for lessons tomorrow and then I went into town and found the No.4 bus back from town after posting my letter to England (6 kuai). Met Guo on the bus and we swopped telephone numbers then I went all the way South (got kicked off the bus) and back again with the help of the Sheraton on the skyline as a landmark (vid)

China Day 37 continued Worked out that I had only spent 5700 kuai in the 37 days I have been here. So I stopped in a proper coffee house to celebrate (vid)

  ****** Answer to yesterday#s Mystery Quiz****** Thank you to all the readers who entered the competition (n=0). The ads on the bus say "Cheng ke men" which means "Passengers!"**