Blog

Den it got bigger

13/7/2020

JD and I have been gradually extending our den in the Secret Forest. We started it about four years ago with a little stick house, big enough for JD and a friend to sit in. Later we added gateways to either side.

Last year, alongside the regular repairs and small improvements, we started to construct a fence around the area in front of the den's door. Then, this Summer I've begun to put up a roof to cover the fenced enclosure while JD has started to make a little garden in one corner.

The forest is only open in the Summer once the rainy season starts, because of the perceived fire risk. So we have to get cracking once we're let in!

Testing times

12/7/2020

JD starts his "end of year" exams this week. English first (should be fine) and then Maths (like the puzzle above, which he managed to do in 20 seconds but which took me 2 minutes to work out!) and finally Chinese (which will be the toughest for him). JD's teacher is very competitive and likes her class to get the best results of all the ten classes in his year group. So the homework is mounting up!

All present and correct, sir

10/7/2020

My academic year ended yesterday with a week of exams - essays and presentations, depending on the class subject. It's been a strange term, starting with online activities and moving to face-to-face classes about a month ago. Hopefully things will return to form of normality when the next term starts again in September.

Just peachy

8/7/2020

Last weekend Jiajia, JD and I went with three of JD's classmates and their parents to a Bai minority village in the countryside. We picked peaches (and pumpkins) and shared a large ethnic banquet.

The drive back home saw some spectacular dusk skies and a curiously vertical rainbow. A fun trip out, despite some intermittent showers.

Well said, bread

6/7/2020

Reely fun

4/7/2020

Whitey and Bitey continue to provide JD (and I) with a lot of fun. They seem to be growing too, despite technically being dwarf hamsters.

That's the t'roof!

2/7/2020

A dozen workers have been gradually transforming our neighbourhood over the last 2-3 weeks with no warning or explanation.

They started by removing a few trees and sawing off other overhanging branches. Then they went around all the flower beds ripping out 90% of the foliage there. Some of it was admittedly looking ugly and overgrown, but other areas had perfectly healthy and flowering plants (some of which Jiajia quickly rescued before they were disposed of). They have now dug trenches in the earth to lay cables (for something ...we're not sure if it is water or electrics or...?). And yesterday they were ripping up all the growth above the garages which our flat looks down upon. We are hoping they will plant something nice there in time. So, alongside the repair of drains, clearing years of accumulated rubbish behind our flats and painting all the buildings, these seem to be positive improvements to our neighbourhood. Fingers crossed.

Holy-bike

30/6/2020

I often see this e-bike livery in Kunming.

I wonder if they realise they are advertising
"Jesus Christ the Son of God"?

Hoop hopes

28/6/2020

This weekend Jiajia and I booked JD in for 30 basketball lessons at a nearby club. He seems to enjoy learning the new skills and the 2-hour sessions hopefully burn off some of his excess chubbiness! He fell asleep on the sofa after yesterday's session, so it must have left him pretty exhausted!

Basketball is easily China's most common participation sport - a lot more popular than table tennis or football.

MiLEGOnium Falcon

26/6/2020

I got this huge Lego build as a Father's Day present last week. It's made by the Chinese company who used to make the pieces for the Lego company , but now do their own "same-quality" models at 10% of the official price! It was 1500 pieces and took me over 3 hours to complete. Loved it though. Very detailed and full of cool functions.

Standby for action!

24/6/2020

JD is already a Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet fan (though he prefers the CGI versions to the original puppet shows) but I thought the other day it was time to introduce him to Stingray! He loved it.

Mr Sun, his son and the sun

22/6/2020

Yesterday Mr Sun, his wife and son (who JD knows from school) invited us to go climb a nearby mountain and see a partial solar eclipse.As we climbed,the sky was covered by dark rainclouds but, as the eclipse time neared, the skies suddenly cleared and we were able to see the sun being "eaten" by the moon very clearly.

We continued exploring the mountain before returning to our cars and sharing a nice restaurant meal together. The last eclipse I saw was when I was in Primary School, so this will be a very special memory.

3000 years?

20/6/2020

It seems one of my students is somewhat older than I thought!

Flashback: This day in ...2007

18/6/2020

Another in my occasional series of "Flashbacks" looking back at blog entries made before this Weebly version started.

Banquets sound great, right? Free, quality food, good company, no washing up, etc. Well maybe, but this term I’ve been averaging a banquet a day (including weekends) as a result of all the school visits I make, and they can sometimes be a real pain. The conversations can be all in Chinese for long periods, the food is often too spicy/bitter/sour or just downright odd (we had “tree leaves and crushed bones” yesterday!). There’s usually the toasting session at the end (being tee-total takes some effort in China) and there’s always a handful of men who see nothing wrong in puffing on their fags whilst others are still eating. However, I’ve become quite adept at pitching in to conversations, spotting the “dangerous” foods and avoiding alcohol without giving offence.

Here are my top tips for surviving Chinese banquets:

Arrive at the table early, check out the dishes and sit near the ones you can stomach. If necessary, subtly jam something under the rotating central section to ensure your choices don’t spin away.
When ordering food, always ask for “panda meat”. Some folk laugh, some look genuinely worried, some apologise for it not being on the menu. Great fun!
Sit with your back towards any big posters showing western meals [see photo above]. This helps you concentrate on the Chinese food and stops inappropriate salivating.
Pretend you understand nothing of the Chinese conversation, and then listen really carefully when you hear your name mentioned – you can learn a lot.
Show how much you enjoy certain dishes – chances are they will be ordered again on your next visit.
If you don’t drink but have totally failed to avoid the “thimbleful of spirits” toast, suddenly tip it back shouting “GanBei!” (“Cheers!”) but aim just past your ear rather than into your mouth. The other drinkers tend not to notice. Do check for passing waitresses first. If someone asks you whether you can use chopsticks (and after five years in China, they still do!?), simply point to your stomach and (in Chinese) say, “What do you think?”. This only works if you are as fat as me.
Reach across the table to a distant plate of food. Wait for some kind person to spin the table round bringing the dish closer to you. Then immediately reach across the table for something completely different. Wait for the spin. Reach across. Spin. Continue until someone realises you are just winding them up.
Always thank the cook and compliment the waitresses. It’s very un-Chinese, and it’s worth it just to see the shocked look on their face!

ALB rescue

16/6/2020

Jiajia, JD and I enjoyed a lovely Summer's day last weekend at DouNan Park. It was less crowded that when we went before, and we managed to find a quiet area to have our picnic, play frisbee and go fishing

Although JD failed to see, let alone catch, any fish, he did spot a water-logged Asian Long-Horned Beetle which he proudly scooped out of the water. We let it dry off on a branch before saying our goodbyes as it slowly crawled up a tree.

After the park, we drove to a friend of Jiajia' whose family has recently moved into something of a mansion; 4 storeys, 6 bathrooms, 4 wide-screen TVs, etc, We shared a lovely meal.

Electrics tricks

14/6/2020

JD was given a toy electronics kit for Children's Day the other week and together we've been working our way through the 1000+ experiments outlined in it. Unfortunately they are all in Chinese, so we just follow the circuit diagrams and try to guess what each is going to produce!

We started with lighting bulbs and then adding a fader switch. Next came a speaker which played "Happy Birthday", and the fader became a volume control. After various other increasingly complex experiments, we took a chance, skipped to the back of the instructions booklet and, to our surprise, managed to build a working radio! All great fun!

Seventh heaven?

12/6/2020

Good to see China in the top ten "safest countries to
be living in at this time in the COVID19 pandemic"...

...bit worrying to see the UK limping in at number 68.

Bikes and bags

10/6/2020

A fairly common sight here - an e-bike carrying a huge load of ...something! This one was dumped in the middle of the street while the driver ran back to pick up another huge bag that had fallen off the bag. Oh, how the cars hooted!!

That's what I fort...

8/6/2020

JD and I spent this weekend making a castle for "Whitey" and "Bitey".

They seemed to enjoy the multi-level mansion, although they often preferred death-defying leaps to using the dainty staircases! Next project is to connect the Hamster Maze to the Hamster Castle...

Trad grad

6/6/2020

I was asked to represent the faculty yesterday at my University's 2020 Graduation Ceremony. All very traditional.

Stew pid

4/6/2020

I wonder if this restaurant is serving lamb hotpot or whether they just pick on dwarf sheep?

Snail mail

2/6/2020

JD's science teacher asked all the students in the class to get two snails for a future experiment.

Amazingly, Jiajia found some for sale online and we duly had two large snails delivered in the post. That was three weeks ago - no further news from the school. I think they've forgotten all about it! Anybody want two snails?

Mask do better

30/5/2020

I've finally finished my first week back at my University doing face-to-face lessons. And I've I managed to overcome all the various hurdles associated with that such as;

Getting to 7.40am classes on time despite dropping JD off at his school at 7.20am, some 10km away.
Passing temperature checks when entering the University AND every new office or building within it.
Teaching speaking lessons while wearing a mask with 40+ students also all wearing masks.

The students handed in their first proper essays this week. About half were acceptable - the rest had seemingly listened to nothing I've been banging on about online over the last two months. The simplest thing like "having FIVE paragraphs" seems beyond some of them!! Ho-hum!!

It's hard enough distinguishing students at the best of times, but now...?

So lucky!

28/5/2020

Spotted last week.

Back hordes and blackboards

26/5/2020

This week sees the return of in-class lessons at my pretty University.

I've been teaching online for two months with mixed success (the internet in China, especially in the the countryside where many of my students live, is variable at best). But the students have now flown, trained and bused back from around the country.

As ever, there are a raft of bizarre contradictions in the University decisions. Foreign teachers living in Kunming start teaching this week but local Chinese teachers started last week. Classrooms are sterilized between lessons but toilets still have no soap or hot water and students must sit at least a metre apart, but classes of 50+ would need students to hover near the ceiling to achieve that!