Thursday 28 December 2017
Tuesday 26 December 2017
China - Day 700
Sometimes when I arrive at one of the branches it looks like no-one is there. All the teachers are teaching, all the parents are in the classrooms when the classes are on, and the receptionist is asleep
Thursday 21 December 2017
Monday 18 December 2017
Tuesday 12 December 2017
Sunday 10 December 2017
China - Day 685
Busy busy busy. Put in a serious shift today plus worked overtime to make sure I had the Christmas story ready for Vicky for today so she has time to translate it. Basically I am telling two stories at the Christmas party, illustrated with a YouTube nativity story and a powerpoint presentation to teach the core vocabulary. Here you are if you had this vocabulary I bet you would know what it is - angel, star, baby, shepherds, kings, presents, party - says it all don't you think?
Friday 8 December 2017
Tuesday 5 December 2017
China - Day 681
Another lazy day - no hot water in the apartment which is causing some angst amongst the female members of the party. Winston called in yesterday and confirmed that the problem is one of low gas pressure. Well that's OK me thinks but when will the gas pressure get any higher? So I had a strip wash in the shower and this evening at 8pm YingYing went to the bath house for a hot shower - a flutter of excitement in the afternoon when we had a message from the visa application centre but it turned out to be a standard noreply effort which was content-free so we still don't know the outcome of the application. Result due soon according to average times that are published on the gov.uk website
Monday 4 December 2017
China - Day 679
Full day at work again today. After work I picked up Yingying so she could freeze on the back of the bike and we drove across town to a sports centre to meet VIcky to play badminton. It was good to hit something again even if it was just a little soft thing with feathers.......
China - Day 678
Full day at work on Saturday - very cold - traveled between 4 different schools today. Stayed up really late last night to see the World Cup draw, so suffered a bit partly as a result. We knew we had two pairs of tickets but we didnt know which teams we would be seeing. Now know that we will be at the Germany v Mexico game in Moscow June 17th soon after the tournament opens before taking the train a couple of days later to Kazan for the Spain v Iran game June 20th. Then we will fly back to Harbin (with airport-based stopovers in Dubai and Beijing). Staying 6 nights in Russia in total so we will be able to see the opening England game on the TV while we are still in Moscow. There is a possibility we could get to see that game in Volgograd but it is 12 hours away from Moscow by train and we will have to see if we can get tickets........
Wednesday 29 November 2017
Friday 24 November 2017
Wednesday 22 November 2017
Friday 17 November 2017
China - Day 663
Well I am pretty excited. I managed to get two pairs of tickets for World Cup matches, one in Moscow and the other in Kazan so I stayed up most of the night arranging travel and accommodation for June 2018. It is phenomenally expensive to stay in these cities, at least round about the world cup it is, so we are doing a whistle-stop tour. Fly to Moscow on June 16th, see a game, overnight train to Kazan on the 19th, see a game, then fly to Harbin (via Dubai and Beijing) on 22nd. All this of course, heaps the pressure onto getting a visa for Yingying. We have applied on line and are going to go to the visa application centre in Shenyang in a week or so to doff our caps at HM Gov and see how it goes
Thursday 16 November 2017
Saturday 11 November 2017
China - Day 656
The heating is on in the apartment even though it is still above freezing outside, I call it autumn, the leaves are falling, Yingying tells me it is winter. The heating is on at school too so I wear my shorts when I walk to school. The cold is a relief. The locals are amused.......everybody wins
China - Day 655
The torture of trying to learn Chinese continues, sometimes I am energised by it, more often I despair
Thursday 9 November 2017
China - Day 654
When the class finishes one level and moves on to the next, we have a graduation ceremony. This is the youngest class I teach. They are not yet at school but in order to progress with the course they are meant to be able to read so they can learn phrases like 'what is your favorite subject?' and terms like 'social studies' and 'math'. However learning the alphabet and beginning to form words is outside the course pre-supposes that they are picking up these skills at school. We do our best................................
Sunday 5 November 2017
China - Day 652
It's come to that time to create an introductory video to try to sell myself on the internet.......................
Thursday 2 November 2017
China - Day 648
Yesterday I helped Winston to create a route description in English so that a non-Chinese English-speaker could find the school. At my lesson this morning we created the Chinese version
I understood perfectly what I said and then Winston said it and it sounded more like what was needed
Wednesday 1 November 2017
China - Day 647 - Wednesday 1st November 2017
Jinzhou has hundreds of these street-food stall bicycles. Every morning at some godforsaken hour the peddlar (literally) gets to their pitch and stays there until after dark, serving food costing from between 10p and 60p a portion, usually high on carbs
On the way back from my favourite coffee shop this afternoon, I stumbled across this school halloween celebration type thing in the park in the middle of my compound
China - Day 646
Beautiful Tuesday morning so the coach takes out his student for her tennis lesson but the student does not listen to the coach and does not like the idea of a video analysis of her forehand
Tuesday is meant to be my day off but I had to go to the Halloween party in the evening and amongst other things, deliver my poem "It's Hallowe'en, a scary night, Jack-o-Lanterns shining bright, bad witches in the sky, spiders crawl and bats fly, ghosts, vampires that bite, mummy, werewolf, scary night!"
Saturday 28 October 2017
Wednesday 25 October 2017
China - Day 637
Another hectic Sunday - still with a respiratory virus - soldiering on - multiple teaching gigs in far-flung places across the city - made it through
Wednesday 18 October 2017
629
Punishing day at work today. First class across the city started at 0820. Seven or eight classes, some one hour long intensive classes with small groups (5-10 students) and some 45 minute classes with large groups (30-60 students). All on three sites across the city. Absolutely good for nothing by the time I had finished at 1940
Thursday 12 October 2017
Sunday 8 October 2017
622
Back to teaching. A familiar scene as I am waiting for the local teacher to finish her half-hour review of what we covered in the last class, before the kids have a five minute break and I launch into one hour of mainly new material (or at least some reworking of the old material). Happy days.......
Friday 6 October 2017
618
When Steve and I arrived at this beach we wondered why everyone was collected at the water's edge and no-one was in the water. I went for a swim and Steve came in to join me and that is when we first heard the whistle. The official told us that we were not allowed to swim because the beach was closed (permanently). Q: Why? A; There are no life-guards available. Q; Can we just take the risk? We are able to swim? A; No. If you go in then others may join you and they may drown
Friday 29 September 2017
614
Friday today and my last day at work before the October Autumn break. Tomorrow Yingying and I will travel by train to Shenyang. On Sunday I will fly to Hong Kong and she will go to stay with her auntie in Shenyang. On Monday I will take the 70 minute boat from HK to Zhuhai to go and stay with Steve and try to get a feel about whether Zhuhai would be a good place to work and live as after we have spent a few months in the UK next Spring the plan will be to come back to South China if we can
Monday 25 September 2017
Friday 22 September 2017
Sunday 17 September 2017
Friday 15 September 2017
600
Not such a busy day today - did some prep work in the morning and then one class late afternoon. Calm before the storm, seven or eight classes tomorrow. Coming home from work this afternoon I say the aftermath of another prang on the roads. A scooter lying on it's side in the middle of a crossroads where there were no lights and no give way signs, I am surprised I don't see this every day - everyone assumes right of way
Thursday 14 September 2017
Wednesday 13 September 2017
Tuesday 12 September 2017
Sunday 10 September 2017
595
Absolutely drained after a day's teaching which started at 0800 and finished at 1840 with two 90 minute classes and five 45 minute classes. Slept well!
Friday 8 September 2017
Wednesday 6 September 2017
China - Day 588 - Harbin
It was the third of September, a day I'll always remember, yes I will. Massive day at work today and then straight from work, we had a hairy taxi ride to the train station where we had to run to catch the train to Harbin. Finally arrived at the small hotel in PingFang late at night. Went out for something to eat and drink. Plenty of restaurants still going strong in PingFang at midnight. Harbin is the wild west. It can be no coincidence that Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and Ha'ErBin are both in the North-East
Friday 1 September 2017
Thursday 31 August 2017
Wednesday 30 August 2017
China - Day 584
Back to work today. The cicadas have stopped doing their thing and we have turned off the air conditioner. YingYing has officially declared it Autumn, which lasts for four weeks apparently. Next weekend we are going to Harbin which will be significantly colder than Jinzhou and I will have to be out of my shorts and into trousers apparently
Monday 28 August 2017
China - Day 581
Working day. Invited to Matt's in the evening for a Fairy Gayweather v. Gregory O'Connor evening. Pre-recorded fight and we had to draw lots for which round the fight would end in favour of whom. Well it was clear to me that Gayweather would do it, he has been boxing for a while and knows how to do it. I drew Round 4 and Round 7 for Gayweather and imagine my disappointment when he won it in the sixth or seventh round. By then I was on my sixth or seventh so I didnt really care either way
Sunday 27 August 2017
Friday 25 August 2017
China - Day 578
YingYing landed from Shenyang today - here she is kicking up a fuss in front of the camera
Typhoon Kato landed from the South China Sea today - here she is kicking up a storm in front of the camera .......................
Wednesday 23 August 2017
Tuesday 22 August 2017
Sunday 20 August 2017
China - Day 573
I found this on line by accident so I thought I would post it up here. Shows real naivety at best............
Friday 18 August 2017
China - Day 572
Every morning this week at 0830 for one hour I an doing an intensive course with (supposed to be) five students. I never get the number I have planned for. This morning at 0830 I only had one student with news that three of them were going to be late. Eventually two more turned up. So I had to keep rejigging my lesson plan throughout the hour to compensate for the problem with numbers. Keeps me on my toes!!!!
Thursday 17 August 2017
Wednesday 16 August 2017
Tuesday 15 August 2017
Thursday 10 August 2017
Wednesday 9 August 2017
China - Day 561
Waiting at Romsey station to go into Southampton on the train to meet the boys for a curry
Olivia let me play with her and her dollies afterwards
Sunday 30 July 2017
China - Day 552
Surprise trip to KTV thanks to YingYing who messaged me when I got back to the apartment after work to say she had taken herself off there and if I was free I could join her......
Thursday 27 July 2017
Wednesday 26 July 2017
Monday 24 July 2017
China - Day 546
Another long day at work - I lost it at the last lesson - four kids - I told them "next week is graduation" and they know 'next' and 'week' and 'is' - not necessarily in that order and in that phrase - all heads turn to the local Chinese teacher for a translation - "No!" I scream "Look at me!" they know this phrase. "What does it mean?" they say (in Chinese) - they know the English phrase "What does it mean?" So I launch into a mime, determined that they will use inference, complete with hat and gown and presentation and applause - it's very hot in the classroom and I am sweating now - "What does it mean?" they say - I bang my head on the wall
Saturday 22 July 2017
Wednesday 19 July 2017
Monday 17 July 2017
China - Day 541
Much needed day off today - the schedules for the rest of July and the second half of August look horrendous. The good news is that my phone has rediscovered it's brain and so I have a VPN again which means I can easily load vids up to this blog from my phone. Normal live broadcasts resumed tomorrow if it doesn't crash again.......meanwhile here is archive footage from the StarSplendor promotional event in Winter 2016
Sunday 16 July 2017
Saturday 15 July 2017
China - Day 539
The first of three archive videos taken in Winter 2016 from when we went to the backwoods in Jinzhou on a marketing and promotional event
Friday 14 July 2017
China - Day 538
Still making slow progress with learning Mandarin. The problem is the following: 1) I am a visual learner and the Chinese characters give no clue as to what they sound like, each one has to be learned individually, so the normal practice opportunities, signage, subtitles etc. do not apply 2) No-one in this town speaks Mandarin, its a local dialect which sounds like something else for example instead of saying 'yi fen' (one portion) they say 'yi ferrr' 3) Its a tonal language so the stress on the words is counter-intuitive if you are used to European languages e.g. there is no rising intonation to indicate a question and it is hard to drop the habit of the European stress model.
So I just need to listen and learn SLOWLY
So I just need to listen and learn SLOWLY
Thursday 13 July 2017
China - Day 535
Full day's work teaching all afternoon and prep all this morning - full day today so that I can take tomorrow off. Exhausted. Stayed up to watch Andy Murray limp and whinge his way out of the tournament. Went to bed half way through the fifth set when I lost patience with it.......it was about 2 o'clock in the morning by then
China - Day 534
Another lazy day.....too hot to do anything much. Air still and very very warm. We went out at 1800 to play some badminton and the wind started up so we didn't get to play. Had a Chinese lesson in the morning. Winston showed me my August schedule and it is pretty fierce, the day after I get back from England (Wednesday 16th August) I am straight back into it with six days full teaching in a row and no time to prep so that will be interesting......
Tuesday 11 July 2017
Monday 10 July 2017
China - Day 531
Problems uploading vids from my phone at the moment and whilst I am still trying to resolve them I thought I would just upload something relevant.......
Friday 7 July 2017
Wednesday 5 July 2017
Sunday 2 July 2017
China - Day 526
Massive days at work today and yesterday - worked both days almost non-stop from first class at 0800 until last class at 1940 - now fit to drop......zzzz.zzzz....zzzz...zz...z...z.........z
China - Day 525
Just had this great idea for a language activity for the advanced students - divide the group into teams and then play this clip and then ask them to guess the stats and then symbolise them using coins or tokens e.g. how many people are right handed (90%) and how many are left handed (10%) - awarding points to the team that are closest to the right answer
Thursday 29 June 2017
Wednesday 28 June 2017
China - Day 521
Big day at work today. Yingying came back from Shenyang this afternoon and so I came back to say hello. In the evening we went out to the Sichuan restaurant just close to the West gate. I had deep-fried scraggy pork bits and bamboo shoots and peanuts and she had broccoli? or was it brocolli? . The spell-checker prefers the former. Plenty of beer to wash it down so a good time was had by all
China - Day 520
Well there was no sign of my interviewer at 1800 last night nor at 1805 so I messaged him and he told me 'ooh please check your emails, urgent call that I have to attend to, can we reschedule please? Nothing in my inbox. Later I was reading something about Confucius. Filial piety apparently includes for the concept of covering for your father if he steals a sheep. Sometimes I wonder why I am being lied to and maybe the answer lies in the teachings of this man from c.500BC
Monday 26 June 2017
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