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Let's second to none effort

29/3/2020

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In these difficult times, it's good to read words
of wisdom and encouragement ...I think!

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Seventh Heaven

28/3/2020

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JD turned seven today. No chance of a party under the current lockdown, but we did manage a Pizza Hut delivery, half a dozen presents and JD's preferred cake. Happy Birthday, Bug!

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A blast from the past last week when one of my ex-students, "Daizzy", sent me a photo of us when I was running a teacher training course in her town, back in 2006. Daizzy is now an English teacher herself and married with two kids!

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Construting?

23/3/2020

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Elephant's drunk

21/3/2020

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Last week in XiShuangBanna (just "down the road") Yunnan, a herd of 14 wild elephants broke into a village looking for corn and food. They stumbled across 30kg of corn whiskey. After drinking the lot, they passed out in a local tea plantation! Glad someone's having fun!

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Commiestruction

19/3/2020

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Yeah, let's concrete over those communist fields !

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Happy Meal

17/3/2020

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Free at last!

15/3/2020

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After nearly 8 weeks of self-isolation, we have finally seen the end of the COVID-19 virus in our Yunnan Province (pop: 46m) as the final two infected people were discharged today. Now we watch as the rest of the world faces their own viral challenge.

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Never e-nerf

13/3/2020

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JD's exercise regime today consisted of marching, saluting and ambushing passersby with his collection of Nerf guns!

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Thunderbirds are leGo!

11/3/2020

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JD set me a challenge earlier this week - to make the various Thunderbird craft in Lego. It's not easy with a limited supply of Lego, especially when the colours are fairly important. JD made most of the blue/grey Thunderbird One himself and by the end, the final results weren't too bad. Now he wants me to make a Tracy Island to secretly house them all!?

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Got top hotpot

9/3/2020

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Jiajia's new "toy" - a combined hotpot and grill.
Makes for a fun social meal. And a bargain at £20 (200RMB).

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Green with envy

7/3/2020

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It took me about seven months to organise the necessary application paperwork and another five months waiting to see if the the Chinese Government agreed to grant it, but this week I finally got my "Foreigner Permanent Resident ID Card" (aka Green Card).

It not only means that I don't have to get a new visa each year for the next decade but, more importantly, I'm not tied to any one visa-issuing educational institution. I am free to pick and choose whatever jobs I like, since my work visa is already secure. And there are much better paid jobs out there than the one I currently have, so watch this space!

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Advance to Go?

5/3/2020

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Things are slowly picking up here. We're still supposed to stay at home (or within our neighbourhood at least) but buses and the subway have started up again and there haven't been any new confirmed infections within Yunnan for a few days now. So, maybe some small Advances towards being able to Go out! Meanwhile, JD has been getting homework projects sent through from his school and I've been keeping him busy with Monopoly, making dens and sorting drawers, cupboards and CDs/DVDs.

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