Saturday 28 December 2019
Thursday 26 December 2019
Friday 27th December 2019
Well Xmas Day passed without too much fuss in Shenyang. YingYing told me that people give each other apples on Xmas Day and that the price of apples shot up just before Xmas. People serving in the shops and restaurants were wearing Xmas hats on the day. As far as the lights go, every night is Xmas in China, in my experience everywhere in every city is lit up with bright colors every night of the year!
Tuesday 24 December 2019
Sunday 22 December 2019
Saturday 21 December 2019
Friday 20 December 2019
Thursday 19th December 2019 - Birmingham
Some bad news today about flights. Our flights from Bangkok to Phnom Penh have been cancelled by the airline so I will have to rebook.....maybe should wait until I get back to China next week. I was in the library in the afternoon and walked back through Birmingham's Frankfurt Xmas Market which is always marvellous. Birmingham is twinned with Frankfurt.
And then went to the Cadbury Social Club to meet the boys for snooker......
Sunday 15 December 2019
Monday 9 December 2019
Saturday, 7th December 2019 - New Forest
This is the place in the New Forest where we scattered mum's ashes in 2014...….
Friday 6th December 2019 - Winchester
Friday morning teaching on line and then in the afternoon I went over to Winchester to get a copy of my passport certified and to deliver my MSc certificate, TEFL certificate and basic police check so that things could be copied and sent to the FCO in London and then the Vietnamese Embassy. I was fascinated by the process of notorising copies of the documents.......
Wednesday 4 December 2019
Tuesday 3rd December 2019 - Coventry
In the morning I went from the hotel straight over to Coventry to get my replacement MSc certificate.
In the evening I met up with the lads in the First Tuesday group in Stirchley, initially at the British Oak and then to Akash for a curry
Saturday 30 November 2019
Friday 29 November 2019
Friday, 29th November 2019
Biting cold last night walking home from the restaurant. When I got in I could see that it had been -16 but it felt colder. Not been out at all today (Friday) and no plans to do so! Giving lessons this evening starting at 18:00 and glad to have an excuse to stay in, At some point soon I will seriously have to start packing instead of prevaricating because early Monday morning I fly to Beijing and from there to London.
Thursday 28 November 2019
Wednesday 27 November 2019
Monday 25 November 2019
Sunday 24 November 2019
Friday 22 November 2019
Thursday 21st November, 2019
A day of preparing for my trip to England in a couple of weeks time. Talk of a postal strike and I need to move my documents between Birmingham and London (Foreign Commonwealth Office and Vietnamese Embassy) in a very complicated process with no desk service. Uuummmmm!!!!!!
Thursday 21 November 2019
Tuesday 19th November 2019
YingYing does not want to be seen at work learning a Taiwanese song after hanging out the washing
Saturday 16 November 2019
Thursday 14 November 2019
Wednesday 13 November 2019
Wednesday 13th November, 2019
So haven't been out today, except for breakfast across the road. YingYing phoned out for something to eat later this afternoon and we had loads of plastic containers delivered. Now the other day I saw someone rifling through the bins and picking out some of these plastic containers so (although the one or two I washed out the other day had not been taken from outside the door of our apartment) I reckon there is a market for recycling them somewhere so today I have started to wash them out and collect them. Watch this space...….
Tuesday 12 November 2019
Monday 11 November 2019
Saturday 9 November 2019
Friday 8 November 2019
Thursday 7 November 2019
Monday 4 November 2019
Sunday 3 November 2019
Thursday 31 October 2019
Wednesday 30 October 2019
Monday 28 October 2019
Tuesday 29th October, 2019
Last night I had a food delivery. YingYing ordered the food online and I had a great meal of chicken and rice and eggplant for 20RMB which is about 3GBP and this includes for the delivery. I told YingYing that therefore the delivery man must be paid about 3RMB for delivering the food and that the life of a delivery man (yes always a man) must be hard but she reckoned that they know the area very well and can deliver enough meals per hour to make good money. Good news all round for everybody other than the recycling issue which makes me think how far apart East and West are on this (Extinction Rebellion ?)
Saturday, 26th October 2019
Another not-going-out day. One of the things I find really difficult here is the lack of easy recycling. Seems like recycling is considered as a poor people activity so some people are always rummaging around in the bins to find plastic, glass, paper, cardboard etc. It appears as though active recycling is not seen as something that everybody should be proactive about as an ethical thing. I try to do my bit but YingYing doesn't get it and I have to choose my battles...…...
Friday 25 October 2019
Friday 25th October 2019
A not-going-out day. YingYing has been called into work today so I have been doing emails and a little Chinese practice. I feel like I am making progress and can orchestrate some conversation but I am feeling lucky if I can understand what is said back, also if someone starts a conversation with me, I rarely understand what is being said. On the plus side, I can understand some of what YingYing says when she talks to other people in Chinese. Oh well, press on...…..
Tuesday 22 October 2019
Sunday 20 October 2019
Sunday 20th October, 2019
Today was a big teaching day, well big for me. Four classes on line, three in the morning and one in the afternoon. The weather is well changed which didn't prompt either of us to particularly want to go out today so we ate leftovers from yesterday and hung out at home. YingYing finished her big project at work last week so she is going in this week but the pressure is off. I had spent some time over the last few days looking for the perfect getaway in Cambodia in January. Still searching...….
Thursday 17 October 2019
Monday 14 October 2019
Sunday 13 October 2019
Saturday 12 October 2019
Thursday 10 October 2019
Thursday, October 10th., 2019
It has been a busy day after a sleepness night, with two job offers in the bag and having to choose between the two. To precis:
APAX English ILA Vietnam
Salary and benefits High Medium
Hours Long Negotiable (paid on an hourly rate)
Situation Somewhere in South Ho Chi Minh City
Classroom support Low High
Academic support Medium High
Lesson prep required Low High
Pre-arrival support Low High
At present I am favouring APAX English on the basis of the higher salary and benefits (and the complications of working to an hourly rate) and the reduced pressure in terms of the lessons are already planned out for APAX and the teacher's role is to make the lessons fun. Both roles would start on February 3rd.
APAX English ILA Vietnam
Salary and benefits High Medium
Hours Long Negotiable (paid on an hourly rate)
Situation Somewhere in South Ho Chi Minh City
Classroom support Low High
Academic support Medium High
Lesson prep required Low High
Pre-arrival support Low High
At present I am favouring APAX English on the basis of the higher salary and benefits (and the complications of working to an hourly rate) and the reduced pressure in terms of the lessons are already planned out for APAX and the teacher's role is to make the lessons fun. Both roles would start on February 3rd.
Tuesday 8 October 2019
Sunday, October 6th., 2019
Big teaching day without much else happening. Rotten cold. Preparing for my interviews later on this week.
Saturday 5 October 2019
Friday 4 October 2019
Wednesday 2 October 2019
Tuesday 1st October, 2019
70th Anniversary celebrations today and a National Holiday.............................................................
Monday 30 September 2019
Sunday 29 September 2019
Thursday 26 September 2019
Tuesday 24 September 2019
Tuesday 24th September 2019
I had a great Chinese lesson today online and today for the first time I really feel that I am making progress, at least with the speaking. Ah well, only listening reading and writing to feel good about. No problem there then, haha. There are several traditional Chinese board games to be seen in the park and this is one of them
Monday 23rd September 2019
Every Monday morning there is a ceremony outside the school and the flag is raised and the anthem is played and the pledge is recited
Friday 20 September 2019
Thursday 19th September 2019
Thursday morning we had breakfast in the cafe across the road and then I walked with YingYing through the park and along to the bus stop on the main road, to see her off to work,
Thursday afternoon I waited for her at the far end of the park at the intersection.
Tuesday 17 September 2019
Monday, 16th September 2019
This is the view from our bedroom window, over into the school below. Every Monday morning, a parade, the raising of the flag, the national anthem, children singing along to a patriotic-sounding song, then some mad disco music and jigging about a bit before the start of lessons
Sunday, 15th September 2019
The social club somewhere between our apartment and the park............................................................
Saturday 14 September 2019
Saturday, 14th September, 2019
My ex-pat friend Steve has helped me with this. They are persimmons and they ripen very quickly so I have already changed my mind about them. They are delicious, when very soft, like a sweet over-ripe plum, same colour inside and out as far as I can tell (being a tinsie-winsie bir colour-blind)
Tuesday 10 September 2019
Sunday 8 September 2019
Saturday 7th September 2019
Saturday and it rained all day so I didn't get out at all. The weather is on the turn I guess. We still have the fan on all day to get a bit of breeze going through the apartment. YingYing wants to upgrade to get an apartment that has windows on more than one side. I get it. There is a special tax that applies to resale of this type of an apartment. I think it has something to do with concierge and cleaning services - this makes it more difficult to sell on apparently. Also, second hand apartments are more difficult to sell. There is a surplus of new building and the standard of building is generally poor and so apartments age quickly
Thursday 5 September 2019
Monday 2 September 2019
Friday 30 August 2019
Wednesday 28th. August 2019 - TieXiQu, Shenyang
We were just leaving the park after table tennis when someone stopped us and asked me take part in a promotional video. There is a group lobbying the local council for improvements to the table tennis playing surface and they think adding an international flavor to the request for park improvements can do no harm so I went back to show them my form ...……………………………………………..
Tuesday 27 August 2019
Sunday 25 August 2019
Thursday 22 August 2019
Tuesday 20 August 2019
Tuesday, 20th August 2019 - TieXiQu, Shenyang
Oh my goodness at last! I have discovered Chinese table tennis tables in the park 400m from home!
Monday, 19th August, 2019 - TieXiQu, Shenyang
This is the corner of the street on which I live and the South Korean BBQ restaurant is just behind me
Sunday 18 August 2019
Friday 16 August 2019
Thursday 15 August 2019
Thursday, 15th August, 2019 - Shenyang, China
Hungry Ghost Festival is indeed today and so tomorrow it will be too late for YingYing to burn out on the streets with the others...…….
Wednesday 14 August 2019
Wednesday, 14th August 2019 - Shenyang, China
Shenyang is catching the tail-end of Typhoon Lekima and it has been raining here non-stop since I arrived back
Tuesday 13 August 2019
Saturday 10 August 2019
Friday 9 August 2019
Thursday 8th August, 2019 - Anadoluhisari, Istanbul
We left Heybeliada early after breakfast
That night, dinner with Faik. I first met Faik on the same student camp where I had met Fuat in 1980
Wednesday 7th August, 2019 - Heybeliada Beach&Resort
In hope of an enchanting experience on the other side of the island, we took the boat after breakfast
We went round the other side of the island to find that we had arrived accidentally in Bodrum
By 2o'clock lunchtime we had had enough but there was no boat service until 6o'clock. Help!!!
Tuesday 6th August 2019 - Heybeliada, Marmara Sea, Turkey
At the Bostanci ferry terminal waiting for the boat to Heybeliada
Lunch on Heybeliada
Monday 5 August 2019
Sunday 4th August, 2019 - Princes' Islands, Sea of Marmara
In the morning, Mert and I went down to Bostanci and met Seymar, Efe and Fuat and stopped at the Red Bull Ucus Gunu to see the start of the 'build a manpowered plane and fall off the pier in an attempt at flight' competition...…………………………………………………………..
Then motored out for a day in the Princes' Islands...………………………………………………
Saturday 3rd August, 2019 - Beskitas, Istanbul
Mert stayed over last night and in the morning we drove to his apartment and I spent time there while he was at work. Later we took a taxi down to Uskudar to go over to the European side...…………….
Mert wanted to show me some night life in Besiktas, home of the Number One football team in Turkey and Number Two in the whole world...………………………………………………….
Friday 2nd August, 2019 - Anadolu Kavagi, Istanbul
Niyazi stayed over last night - a boys trip out, we decided to take the ferry boat up to Anadolu Kavagi
On the way to Anadolu Kavagi we called into many ports on the Asian side of the Bosphorus
Thursday 1 August 2019
Tuesday 30 July 2019
Sunday 28th July 2019 - Anadoluhisari, Istanbul
Sunday went out with Mert and took the ferry from Anadoluhisari over to Emirgan
Then walked under the Fatih Sultan Ahmet bridge and along to Bebek for a beer in the park
And on Sunday night Mert put on a show.........................................................................
Saturday 27 July 2019
Warsaw, Poland - Thursday 25th July 2019
On Thursday afternoon all the participants made five minute presentations in English, and many of them were very nervous about it all week, but the presentations were all extremely good...…...
Tuesday 23 July 2019
Sunday 21 July 2019
Warsaw, Poland - Saturday 20th July 2019
Several people recommended the Warsaw Rising Museum to me and I went there this morning. It is the story of two months of Warsaw resistance to the Nazi occupation and although I got there early it was already rammed with Polish visitors
I walked there from the apartment block that has the small studio flat that I rented for the two nights that I was back in Warsaw. In the courtyard of my apartment block was a remnant of the ghetto wall.
Warsaw, Poland - Friday 19th July 2019
Friday was a fairly short morning of one2one and group sessions before bus back to Warsaw
Friday night, Thomasz, who knows Warsaw well, hosted an evening out starting at this night market
Thursday 18 July 2019
Warsaw, Poland - Thursday 18th July, 2019
I had this today from Turkey on WhatsApp, and it reminded me of the movie 'Life' so I include it
Another day of functional conversation with the attendees at Hotel Debowa Gora, Angloville
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