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Less fat, more fit

30/9/2010

I've been taking advantage of a spell of good health recently by visiting the gym 3-4 times a week. We have had a light start to the term at school and my gym subscription runs out in November, so it's now or never! I've been running for about an hour on each visit, covering 9-10km (about 6 miles) and have managed to lose over 6kg (a stone) over the last month. Losing the weight now gets harder (I had plenty to lose at first!) but it's encouraging to feel a little fitter that fatter these days. Let's hope the better health continues this time.

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The old man's no ring

28/9/2010

Having made a rather impromptu proposal to Jiajia in Thailand a couple of months ago, we've been without an engagement ring for a while now. Jiajia finally saw one she liked in Hong Kong last month though and arranged to get it engraved. She recently picked it up and passed it over to me to find a suitable time to officially give it (back) to her!

Having been invited to a buffet meal in a 5-star hotel by (my bosses) Rob and Rachel, along with friends Peter and Judy, I did the one-knee proposal thing again [see photo above], although I had switched the real ring for a beer can ring pull [see photo, right]! On receipt of the real ring, however, I finally got a "yes", amidst the giggles.

For those who like to know these things, the "Tiffany" ring is solid gold, engraved with "I love you" around the outside, and "PJ {heart shape} JJ" inside - we couldn't afford more than 5 characters (kidding!)! Now I just have to start saving up for the wedding one!

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring!

26/9/2010

I enjoyed a nice lay-in today which was perfect timing, as it turned out, with Kunming experiencing torrential rain all morning. As usual the local roads just couldn't cope and my walk downtown was more of a swim [see photo], after which I met Ava and Emily (...recently returned from 2 years in the UK) for a nice lunch.

Split?

25/9/2010

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Spotted the other day at a ticket booth. They seem to be asking for money for every "split"? I wondered if it was a misspelling of "spit", so I tried spitting outside the office but there seemed to be no charge for that! It still remains a bit of a mystery!

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Brace yourself

24/9/2010

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One of the things all the recent doctors agreed about on my recent hospital visits was the need to wear a neck collar for a few hours each day for a fortnight or so. With Ava's help we tracked down one the other day and I'm trying to be good and wear it a bit. I find it difficult to be enthusiastic though as (a) my neck's been fine for a couple of weeks now, (b) it makes my neck uncomfortably hot, and (c) I look a right wally!

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Bess wishes

22/9/2010

Today is Mid-Autumn Festival in China. Shops close, people gaze at the moon (were it not so cloudy) while eating dry "mooncakes", and (in Kunming at least) private cars are banned from the roads for a day! I got a few little presents from students for Teacher's Day, a couple of weeks ago, but was surprised when one of my students gave me a "Mid-Autumn Festival present" the other day, especially as it was a magazine about ballroom dancing - not a subject I follow too closely! But, as Bess patiently explained, she actually features in the magazine, as her main hobby is dancing [see photo]. It was even more surprising to me, as she's one of my most petite students (not much more than a metre tall?) But she looks great on the photos, and it was a timely reminder to me that the 100 or so students I teach each week have wider lives outside their weekly English lesson.

Grand day for Granddad

21/9/2010

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I make no apologies for another "family" blog entry. Yesterday my Granddad celebrated his 99th birthday which is no mean feat in anybody's books! He is still in good mental health although, as he starts his 100th year on the planet, his aches and pains are inevitably taking their toll. I really hope he can make it to one more year (at least), though he himself is keen to be "reunited" with his wife, my Nan, who died some years ago. My parents arranged for him to ring me yesterday evening and it was great to hear his voice once again. Happy Birthday, Granddad!

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50 not out

20/9/2010

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Well, just so they don't feel left out, here are my parents too! They celebrated an amazing 50 years of marriage last week. I was able to collate "Fifty Fotos from Friends, Family & Famous Folk" with all the photos having a 50 theme. I sent the completed album home by post and luckily it arrived the day before their Anniversary. They also had an extended dedication on BBC Radio 2!

What's more, Mum and Dad recently bought tickets to come and visit Ava and I here in March, next year - something we're both really looking forward to.

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Motley crew

19/9/2010

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Being based in Hereford, Winchester, London and China, and all having busy lives, it isn't often that my family (or even part of them) get together. So it was lovely to receive this photo recently. My brother Dave is taking it, with my other brother Andy on the left, next to his wife Ali (holding their daughter Daisy). To the far right is their son Louie. Dave's daughter Esme is in the middle, holding the arm of her Mum, Sarah, with her brother, Joshua next. My parents are AWOL, as of course am I, but still - a reminder that the kids are growing fast and their parents are aging gracefully!

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Signs of the times

18/9/2010

My school started using a new entrance a few months ago (rather than share one with the barbecue restaurant on the ground floor), which was made possible by buying out the next-door honey shop and knocking down the back wall! It has looked a bit "functional" since then, until this weekend saw it decorated with six large, eye-catching posters showing past school activities. The two prize-winning students, top-left in the photo, are from one of my classes, while the top-right picture shows an intake of Lattitude students (a training course which I run every 6 months). And finally I'm the one in blue jeans sitting on the right of the left-centre picture! So, fame at last ....almost!

No loo king

17/9/2010

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What does every Mum do when her child needs a poo in a shopping centre with no loos around? Easy - give the young lad a plastic bag and stand guard while he fills it. A quick knot, pop it into the wastebin and who's to know? I spotted and photographed this "delightful" episode from a restaurant last week. It put me right off my noodles! Apologies if you are of a sensitive nature ...but it is a typically Chinese solution!!

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Cathy specific

16/9/2010

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I've finished my first week of "Mandarin" lessons today - 6 hours in total, taught by my indefatigable and good-humoured Chinese teacher, "Cathy" [see photo]. Although I'm the only student in the class at this level (so far), I've managed to stay awake and active (which is basically all I require of MY students!) and I've learned a lot. Whether it stays in this rapidly ageing brain is another issue. Unfortunately the next 2-3 weeks are full of "holidays" and make-up classes, so Chinese language lessons will be few and far between for a while. Hopefully things will settle down in November and December though. I really do need to become more fluent now my long-term future is definitely here.

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Kunming back again

15/9/2010

It seems like people can't stay away from Kunming for too long. My friends and fellow RSL teachers Peter and Judy arrived back from the UK yesterday for a few months back in "Mingers", and my old Kunming friend Emily arrives back today after a couple of years in England [left in photo, enjoying a last game of Mahjong with my UK friend Vix]. Then, my parents are planning a second trip here in February next year and others have promised (threatened?) to make 2011 the year they make it out here too. It's really great to have so many visitors and "returners", so why not take the plunge and come visit me (us!) in China next year!

Graves and raves

14/9/2010

It's about a year since Jiajia's Grandmother died, so we took a visit to her grave yesterday to pay our respects. Jiajia was brought up by her Gran and she still thinks and talks about her often. It's about an hour's drive from the city. You can see the enormous cemetery in the background in this photo. It's actually a pleasant enough place to visit - lots of greenery, very well kept up, overlooking a lake, piped lift music everywhere, etc.

Afterwards, we visited the fantastic Pan Long Si Temple which is nearby. It's the most important Buddhist Temple in the Kunming Area and apparently the most visited (though it was pleasantly quiet while we were there).

It's an enormous and really interesting complex, and yet gets less foreign visitors than other Kunming Temples as it's 40km from the city and tricky to get to (without a car).

The "Arhats" [see photo above] are disciples of Buddha and their 3D depictions on the walls there were stunning.

The many temple halls had various statues [see photo right] and were decorated in different ways, so there was plenty to see.

There was a small and dingy museum, too, where Jiajia tried to copy the pose in one of the pictures [see below left]. And we saw a tree growing through the middle of a covered walkway which "suddenly seemed to sprout arms" when I went to take it's photograph [see below right]! All in all, a temple worth revisiting, and a bargain at 8RMB (80p)!

All fall

12/9/2010

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I spotted this sign outside a construction site the other day, and at this jaunty angle, too. I'm not sure if it is meant to warn workers about the dangers of falling off their building or alert passers-by the possiblity of workers falling on them!?

Maybe I'll be able to read the Chinese soon - I start a "6 hours a week" course this Tuesday, run by my school. We're are trialling the courses in the hope that they will attract paying foreigners to study Mandarin at the school in the future.

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And for those who don't wish to know the result...

10/9/2010

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... look away now!!

It was back to the hospital yesterday with Ava and her medical friend Rose to pick up the MRI scan results and get them analysed by Dr Mang, the neurologist [see photo]. He said my blood vessels were fine and my brain was very healthy (so to those who always thought I was crazy - just check out that MRI). He did point out a cyst growing in my brain(!) but insisted (in-cyst-ed?) it was benign and not that uncommon. However, he showed me clearly where two of the neck vertebrae were pinching a nerve, a condition called Spondylosis, fairly common in old people(?). The cure? There isn't really one - take vitamin B12, massage your neck when it hurts, wear a neck brace for 2 hours a day for two weeks, take a pill if you get very dizzy, keep your blood pressure down, rub in deep heat, try to work and play with your head raised at 15° from horizontal - easier said than done, and live with it! But at least I had a name for my problems.... or so I thought.

We left Mr Mang and popped into a top bone specialist friend of Rose's. He took one look at the X-ray and MRI scan and immediately dismissed it as a pinched nerve. It must be an ear problem, he decided. We showed him the results of the recent ear test (negative) and he said it must be a pinched blood vessel. We showed him a negative test results for that too, and he said he only knew that from the MRI it couldn't be Spondylosis.

A little dejected, we left the hospital and Rose invited us to dinner with some of her friends. It turned out there were 5 doctors amongst them, all keen to see the test results. Five different diagnoses, and varying advice and medication suggestions later, I was given an impromptu (and painful) neck massage and left feeling as confused as ever. On the internet Spondylosis looks to me like it covers the symptoms, so I'll go with that for now. I now need to buy a kite (it's a "15° from horizontal" thing!).

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Impatient out putient

8/9/2010

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I was back at the hospital for 6 hours yesterday for another crack at trying to find out why I've been having dizzy attacks for the last 18 months or so (though admittedly less often in the last few months). This visit was prompted by a friend of Ava's who knows the head neurologist in Kunming. What's more, Dr Meng speaks great English, having studied in the West. He asked the sort of sensible questions one would expect a good doctor to (which is a bonus in China!) and looked at my growing pile of test results, x-rays, medical history and current medication. He said he suspected it was either a middle ear problem or bones in the spine pinching a nerve (but not a blood vessel, as had been suggested by previous doctors). The middle ear possibility was checked out with a cheapish test, with no problems found there.

The other test was a rather more expensive MRI scan, involving me being strapped down onto a shelf, slid into a small coffin-like hole [see photo] and bombarded for 15 minutes with high voltage magnetic charges to "see" into my bones and brain. A bit scarey, if I'm honest - they even give you ear plugs as the machine makes such loud and disconcerting thumping, buzzing and screeching noises right by your ears. I get the results later this week. Ava says she hopes they find nothing wrong, but part of me would be delighted if they found the reason for these ongoing problems. Watch this space!

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Card say thank you enough

6/9/2010

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I occasionally raid my display of postcards for use in lessons (an "Eden Project" postie came in useful in a recent lesson, and I managed to find cards from all four nations of the UK for another) and yet my wall display at home remains very healthy! Many thanks to family and friends who so faithfully remember me on their travels - much appreciated!

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Swat's going on...?

4/9/2010

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There seems to be an increased police and military presence in Kunming recently. At first I thought the teams of marching young men in camouflage were first-year University students doing their obligatory two weeks of "military training", and they might have been, but there seen to be more policeman around too and the flag-waving traffic officials have new uniforms and are being fussier than normal. Then, at the airport yesterday, picking up Mark (ex-VSO, ex-RSL) who is passing through Kunming on the way from Britain to Wenshan, I saw this fearsome-looking vehicle parked outside, marked as "Airport Swat Team". So maybe something really is up? Perhaps it's the anniversary of some long-forgotton dissent or uprising? Maybe North Korea is about to make an announcement about its new leader? Or maybe my imagination is running riot? We'll see...

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China's got toelant

2/9/2010

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I recently read that China now exports the same quantity of goods every 6 hours that they exported during the whole of 1978!! Well currently one very successful import is a certain British TV show, here rebranded as "China's Got Talent". I don't watch it myself - too much screechy singing - but the main talking points this series, apparently, have been a guy who had to undertake a medical check to prove he wasn't a girl, and a young lad who can play piano concertos with his feet [see photo]. It all goes to make Susan Boyles seem positively normal!

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Less fat, more fit

The old man's no ring

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring!

Split?

Brace yourself

Bess wishes

Grand day for Granddad

50 not out

Motley crew

Signs of the times

No loo king

Cathy specific

Kunming back again

Graves and raves

All fall

And for those who don't wish to know the result...

Impatient out putient

Card say thank you enough

Swat's going on...?

China's got toelant

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