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 I heard today that one of the twelve animals on the traditional Chinese animal horoscope is being changed. From today, the dragon ("not a real animal and one with links to many other countries") will be replaced by the panda ("a real animal which is quintessentially Chinese"). I think it's a foolish decision...
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 Spotted these strange lights in the sky the other day. Aliens?
This is a fairly common sight in the Chinese countryside - boards laid alongside the wheel arches of parked cars and vans  It's taken me some time to find out what the reason is. I'm told on good authority it is to stop dogs weeing on the tyres, because of the belief that their urine degrades tyres and causes punctures. I'm not sure dogs really do that, or that their urine has any effect at all but hey, this is China! Facts often have no bearing on local traditions.
We went to a mountainside picnic area where the kids could run around and play. Lunch was a DIY barbecue - you bring your own food and then pay for charcoal and the barbecue grill to cook it on. Fun.
 The flat upstairs started their redecoration and remodeling yesterday and, pretty soon, the constant hammering of the masonry drills drove me out of the house. I headed for a reservoir I'd heard about, a half hour e-bike drive away. It didn't disappoint. A haven of fresh air and greenery just outside the city. And I was surprised to see a dozen folk swimming there too, so it looks like somewhere I might take JD to sometime.   Well what do you know? I found a street in Kunming named after myself [see my name at the top of this blog] .... "Ocean of Morality Street"!
 Overkill? Maybe. But I needed to transfer programs, data and settings from my old laptop to my new laptop and to be online on a third to find out how to do it. And when each transfer can take an hour or more you need some iPad entertainment to keep you focused!
 Not too pleased with her new age!
But Happy Birthday anyway, darlin' !! My tongue was bleeding all last week from the number of times I had to bite it - JD's English teacher has been driving me crazy!  First she criticises JD for using joined-up writing. Then she sends home a list of the "mistakes" being made in his letter writing. I see nothing wrong with his G and k. I see lots wrong with her Q, and who puts a tail on a capital U? Not even JD's English textbook shows written letters the way his teacher insists on! And then today we get "example sentences" to copy which include the following...   I'm told I should keep my mouth shut - it's the Chinese way. But sometimes it's hard to ignore a teacher insisting on mangled language!
 There seems to be an awful lot of roadworks in Kunming these days. Some are due to the ever-expanding subway while others seem to be for laying drainage pipes. I had a bit of a giggle at these blue signs, reminding cars to drive on the road and pedestrians to walk on the pavement. Well, who knew?
 JD had his first day back at school yesterday, preceded by some tears for fear of not having finished all of the huge amounts of holiday work his school gave him to complete. As it turned out, he'd done enough and, by the time he got to after-school homework club [see above], he was much happier. Here's to the new term.  |
 AuthorPaul Hider started this blog to share his rather odd life living in China for over 20 years. Since returning to the UK in 2024, the blog now records his more "normal" lifestyle! Past blog entries
December 2024
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