Blog

Wire we here?

31/5/2011

Ava and I were in ChongQing yesterday, applying for her UK visa. We had a scare to start with when, at Kunming airport, and purely by luck, we spotted that our two following flights had been switched. I was due to return to Kunming, but was assigned to a ticket to Shenzhen (to buy clothes for Ava’s store?) while Ava was due to fly on to Shenzhen, but was assigned to a ticket back to Kunming (to teach my English class?). It was the ticket agency’s fault, but they were reluctant to admit it and Ava had to insist they got us new correct tickets immediately. We have therefore lost £100 in re-ticketing costs but hope to be reimbursed later.

The visa process has taken Ava and I many hours to complete: finding, creating, copying and collating 50-odd pieces of paper required to support her application form. Britain doesn't make it easy for visitors from outside Europe! The actual "handing in" part took just half an hour though, so we had some free time in the city before our onward flights.

ChongQing is a dirty, untidy, noisy city [see the wiring in the photo above!] with typical weather conditions being smog, humidity and drizzle. Ava was very keen to try the famed ChongQing hotpot – the spiciest in China - and we found a nice place (complete with Christmas decorations!) that could do a half-and-half pot, so that I could eat in relative non-spiciness [see photo left]. It was a good meal, and much cheaper than the equivalent in Kunming.
We should find out the result of the visa application in 2-3 weeks.

Ball and chain

29/5/2011

When my school colleagues said they had clubbed together to buy me a wedding gift, I had visions of flowers, vouchers or a vase. I didn't expect a ball and chain, duly attached to my leg and which I was told had to be worn for the remainder of the teaching day. Highly embarrassing, but a vivid reminder that I am no longer a free man. Happily so, I hasten to add!

Ava and I fly to ChongQing this evening to apply for her UK visa on Monday (with ball and chain removed!).

No pressure

27/5/2011

Having had more than my fair share of blood pressure testing over the last few years, I decided to write to the science magazine I subscribe to and ask them how a blood pressure armband works. After a few months they finally printed and answered the question in the latest issue [see photo]. Fame at last!

Well, well, wealth

25/5/2011

This shop claims that it's
"full of cryptomorphic
wealth". A prize for
anyone who can
guess what on
earth it sells!

Knot tied and not tired

23/5/2011

Despite finding ourselves locked into Ava's house this morning by her Mum (accident or sabatage?) we managed to escape (by throwing a key to a passing stranger!) and drive an hour through Kunming's suburbs to process our marriage application. Half an hour later, we paid the 9RMB fee (90p) and got our certificates. I'm technically a married man! It feels odd in some ways and much the same as before in others. I think it will be more meaningful when we celebrate it with friends and family later in the UK, and later still in Kunming.
(The early wedding photos aren't looking too good however! Heehee!)

My friend Emily is now frantically translating all of Ava's Chinese documents, after which Ava and I will fly to ChongQing at the weekend to apply for her UK visa. Ava will then fly on to Shenzhen to buy stock for her shop while I fly back to Kunming. Three weeks later, we should find out whether or not she has got a visa and, if so, we'll be flying to the UK two months today! Fingers crossed!

Fire? All weapons...

20/5/2011

So, if you're ever caught
in a raging fire, you
can always reach
for a ...hand
grenade!?

Exploding melons

18/5/2011

China's melons have hit the TV and radio recently ...and hit the tractors and greenhouses, too. It seems Chinese melons have been exploding in their hundreds in Jiangsu Province and nobody is quite sure why. Is it the new brand of seeds from "radioactive" Japan? Or the overuse of fertilizer causing too rapid a growth? Or the unusual weather? Whatever the cause, two-thirds of the crops in some areas have blown up and worried Government scientists are investigating. Only in China, eh?

It's for cert

16/5/2011

Ava and I got our joint photo taken this morning. It's one of the many requirements before the local government will issue a Marriage Certificate. It took 2 minutes to snap the picture and then a further 20 minutes for the technician to alter it on his computer to make us look younger and less blemished! A very Chinese procedure. We hope to get our Certificate by the end of this month, although we've heard rumours that we will also both need a medical exam to check we have the requisite working parts!! Let's hope not!

Hoverboard

15/5/2011

I snapped this odd picture the other day. The man was building a wall and adding the last of the bricks to the top, but whilst standing on a plank of wood that seemingly had no supports. Was he really just floating there? David Blaine, eat your heart out"!

Brand band

13/5/2011

What do you get if you cross one of my favourite bands with one of Ava's favourite brands? Keane, that's what, peforming amidst holograms and fireworks last month in Beijing at the opening of China's first Burberry clothes store. Now why didn't we get an invite?

A move in experience

11/5/2011

The reality of getting married and moving in with "a wife" became a little closer today with the arrival of two wardrobes to Ava's house today, one of which has been assigned to me and my things! Ava and I ordered them from the "fake IKEA" store a couple of weeks ago and the workmen who delivered and built them today completed the whole procedure in under an hour. Now I just have to fill them!

Run over

10/5/2011

My gym subscription finally ran out today. The gym is too far away from Ava's flat, where I'll be moving to in a couple of months, so today was my last visit. The last three years of exercise has been a time of ups and downs, with frequent gaps in gym visits due to gout, dizziness, neck and chest pains and various injuries. But I can honestly say that whenever I've been fit enough to go, I've gone - and that was the only promise I made to myself when joining up. Over the three years I have lost 11kg (over 1½ stone) and certainly feel a lot fitter. My future options include joining the gym at the bottom of the hill where Ava's flat is, running around the courtyard outside her flat (500m a lap) or dusting off her running machine!

Spielberg, eat your heart out

9/5/2011

Having returned from my Lattitude visit with some great video footage from threee seperate cameras, I've spent a few hours this weekend editing it all into two little movies ("Demonstration class" and "Interview"). I've not used Microsoft's "Movie Maker" software before, so it's been quite fun to teach myself how to add music, titles, cross-fades and little tweaks. I'm quite pleased with the results. Oscar nominations must follow...

That's Latt Nat

7/5/2011

I travelled two hours south yesterday, driven by secretary "Winnie" from my school, to visit two of the Lattitude volunteers that I trained some three months ago. Despite arriving very late, Natalie had managed to keep the students in the class room and proceeded to teach a fabulous lesson, showing off her natural talents and many of the skills/games taught on the training course. Winnie and I recorded the lesson on DVD for future Lattitude training courses. Then, back at Natalie and fellow volunteer Zoe's flat, we recorded an interviewed with them about how they coped with life in China. In fact, they were both effusive in their love of the job, the location and the friends and colleagues they had there. Their enthusiasm was infectious and reminded me of how excited I felt I some 15 years ago, when volunteering in China. After a banquet with the headteacher and foreigner-liaison teacher, Winnie and I headed home, arriving back at school just in time for my weekly meeting and lesson. A long, but very worthwhile, day.

Limos and lattes

5/5/2011

You start to believe that Kunming is no longer a "poor Chinese city" when you see someone pulling up to the city's first, and newly opened, Starbucks in a stretch limousine [see photo]. But then, seconds later, you spot an old and filthy lady carrying a 2m high pile of rubbish on the back of her tricycle. It's certainly a place of vivid contrasts. At least my school tries its best to balance these extremes a little; charging high prices for "VIP one-to-one lessons" to those that can afford it, whilst offering free training to English teachers in poor schools on the outskirts of the city.

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