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Fun afternoon at the Yunnan Observatory which boasts telescopes, lecture room, planetarium and various astronomical dishes including this huge one. It's not usually open to the public and, as a foreigner, I had to get special permission to visit. [Can you spot JD waving in the left photo?]
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 And so, with his latest photo beside a forklift truck, JD ticks off yet another in his quest to meet all the "Big Five Construction Vehicles". He's previously had photos taken alongside a cement mixer, a backhoe digger and a mobile crane. Just the bulldozer to go, then!
 JD and I were at McDonald's yesterday and I spotted this sign. I've never seen so much tosh in all my life! If you really want to be "light", then you certainly should not be eating at a fast food place. If you are "improbable", it's more likely that you don't exist than you do. And how many "winged" creatures are "afraid of nothing"? Birds and insects are amongst the most timid of animals. Who writes this rubbish? And as for the neighbouring sign claiming, "You really CAN do whatever you want", they clearly haven't been students in MY classroom!
Having been evaluated one-to-one last week [see above] and found to have good enough rhythm and body control, JD joined his first 1½ hour dance class the other day [in green, below]. To his surprise, his American friend Zaden also came along [left of JD, below] and together they learned the dance moves quickly. JD loved the experience and can't wait to return on Sunday evening.   I read an amusing article today about a University in China which has included a "Spot your Teacher" question in its final exam. No extra marks for getting it right, but you fail the exam if you get it wrong. The idea is to weed out students who never came to any lessons!
A couple of firsts for JD this week. His first game of Monopoly (we played with a fake set Jiajia had bought off the internet - a mixture of French streets, Chinglish chance cards and American money!) JD won. Then an afternoon at a KTV (Karaoke singing) organised by JD's favourite Kindergarten teacher for him and 5 of his classmates. After a shy start, he was soon blasting out various Chinese songs he'd learned at school, while I was pressured into a version of "You are my Sunshine"! And later this week, JD is going to try out for a Dance Class!
 JD and I looking forward to seeing the latest
instalment of the saga in IMAX 3D tomorrow. [PS Terrific film, We both loved it]  I bought some stickers for JD the other day
(ignoring what the packaging said!)  I was back teaching at Robert's School yesterday. A while ago, the school landed a large contract to give three months' training to 100+ civil servants and then found themselves very short of foreign teachers. So, after some desperate begging, I finally agreed to help them with 1½ hours a week for three months. My 25 students today had a higher level of English than I expected and managed to keep up well with the opening class on the topic of "Greetings and Self-introductions". 11 more lessons to go!
Parents were invited to sit in on the last after-school Art lesson of the term, last week. So I sat next to JD as the teacher showed them step-by-step how to make an "Autumn Starry Night" picture. We originally booked JD into these twice-weekly classes because there was one day each week when I had to teach late at my University and wouldn't have been able to pick JD up at the normal time. However, we've been surprised at just how well-prepared and enjoyable the class have been, and JD is always excited to stay behind for his class. JD's finished picture is below...   I had arranged to meet a colleague at my University Library coffee shop the other day but, arriving too early, I looked around for somewhere to kill 15 minutes. I spotted a doorway marked "Ethnic Minority Accounting Museum". Walking in, I found a collection of darkened rooms. A receptionist suddenly appeared, clearly surprised to receive a visitor, and happily turned on all the lights for me. The exhibition was based around the ways that ethnic groups in China have recorded trade deals and wealth through the ages. It had a pleasing amount of English labelling, one of which claimed to show the "largest metal coin in the world" [see above]. Not easy on the pocket or purse, I suspect! There was surprisingly little Chinglish to amuse me, but one sign did catch my eye [see below].   Wonder if you can guess what "are for vehicles" and "are for pets" on this sign, spotted today. Answer below...
 JD's Kindergarten teachers often post photos of the class doing various activities on the Chinese equivalent of Facebook. Jiajia and I were rather thrown to see this one recently though, with the class seemingly praying (in an enthusiastically atheist country, no less!). We asked JD about it later and he said he couldn't really remember but he thought it was about asking Buddha for something!?
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 AuthorPaul Hider lives and works in Kunming (SW China) and regularly updates this blog about his life there. Past blog entries
September 2023
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