Ocean of Morality
  • Blog
  • Family
  • Relatives
  • Countries
  • Gallery
  • Guestbook
  • JD's Blog

Hotpot - lots

30/9/2012

3 Comments

 
Picture
Tonight is mid-Autumn Festival - the second biggest festival in China. As we prepared the ingredients for the hotpot, Ava, ma-in-law and I realised we had bought far too much food for just ourselves (plus Ava's "uncle"), so we also invited a couple of our foreign friends, Sam and Gemma, who study Chinese at Robert's School. They helped us work our way through perhaps half of the food before we were all full up. Guess what we're eating for the rest of the week...?
Picture
3 Comments

Should be band?

28/9/2012

2 Comments

 
Picture
As I started to go running the other day, I thought someone was playing their radio a bit loud. But, on my first lap of the neighbourhood, I came across a live 10-piece traditional Chinese band, complete with microphoned, wailing singer. At first I thought it had been commissioned for a funeral or a house-moving, as we've never had an orchestra playing outisde the flat before. But it seems they just chose that spot to practise that day. They've not returned since. What with dodging the crowd that gathered to watch them, avoiding the kid on roller-skates, weaving between two prams, jumping a cat and ducking under a dozen caterpillars hanging from overhead tree branches by spidery threads, I wasn't really able to get up much of a speed. (And that, brother Dave, is my excuse for not beating your recent "10km in an hour" record. That, plus only running 5km ...also in an hour!).
2 Comments

Primary reason

26/9/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
One of my recent challenges has been running a weekly English course for teachers in Kunming's top Primary School. These are mostly teachers of Chinese and Maths who are keen to participate in the school's student exchange programme to Western countries, which requires a basic level of English from the accompanying teachers. (I'm also secretly hoping that getting known in the school might help my child's chances of being admitted there in the future! Can't hurt!).
Picture

Initially, I was told it would be a two hour lesson for 30 teachers. That turned into a one hour lesson for 25 teachers on the first week, and a 45 minute lesson for 55 teachers on the second week. Expect the unexpected in Chinese Primary Schools! The English levels of the teachers vary widely, from those who teach some English themselves to others who cannot answer "How are you?". We did manage some pairwork and role-play by the end of the second lesson though [see photo], and the teachers all seemed relaxed and enjoying the class, which is important.

0 Comments

Dancing the scan-can

25/9/2012

 
Ava went back to be scanned again today. After two attempts, the nurses said she may have to return again tomorrow as the baby was "jumping around too much" to get a good picture. Then suddenly it stopped moving and swung around to the perfect angle for a snapshot! After the first scan (a month ago) the nurses said they hadn't seen such a strong heartbeat for a long time. This time they said they hadn't seen such an active little baby for ages. Something tells me we have an overactive and overconfident child on the way! Anyhow, the doctor said everything looked good and healthy and we now have a hospital-free month until further tests are done. I just hope the tests are more accurate than the signage [see below]. 
Picture
(...and for anyone getting worried, this blog is definitely not going to dissolve into a "coochy-coochy", "lovely-dovey", "how cute", babyfest!)

Scan? Scan't!

24/9/2012

 
Picture
Ava and I spent this afternoon queueing for a "routine scan". Yes, for those who haven't yet heard, Ava is three months pregnant and, to be honest, hating every moment so far! Throwing up 2-3 times a day, for months on end will do that for you. It wasn't helped today by a 2½ hour wait in the hospital, beside a smelly toilet, only to be told that our baby was lying in the "wrong orientation" for scanning and we would have to return to try again tomorrow. However, we are both quietly excited at the prospect of parenthood. We know that our age complicates things a little, and I'm feeling a little lost amongst the various odd cultural practices that surround pregnancy and childhood in China (more of that later!) and ruing my poor language skills when dealing with doctors, and assistants in baby shops. But we'll muddle through and see how things pan out. "Dorta" is already getting used to the idea of Mummy giving birth [see photo]!

Wa'ter relief (again)

22/9/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture
After two weeks of uninterrupted running water, I feel I can (once again) beathe a sigh of relief and feel fairly confident that our water supply is back for good, or at least until next Summer. It's such a pleasure to be able to take a shower whenever wanted or without having to trek across town. The buckets are still on standby but, with the recent heavy downpours, we remain hopeful ...and cleaner!

1 Comment

Melting pot

20/9/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
I went out for a hotpot meal with Ava and a couple of her friends last night. It was a surreally international affair. One of her friends works for an Australian company, the food was Vietnamese [check out the revolutionary poster on the wall] and the accompanying background music was South African. All enjoyed in China, of course.

0 Comments

Protest or pretext?

18/9/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
I saw my first Kunming protest march last week. They were moving too fast down the road to try and make out their bannners, but I later found out it was one of a number of coordinated protests throughout China cities, lambasting Japan for laying claim to some islands, which China also claims. Feelings are running very high about it all, even in sleepy Kunming,  with a Japanese restaurant trashed and some Japanese cars attacked.  At the weekend, quite a number of my students  asked me what I thought about it. They have been fed passionate rhetoric and one-sided potted history lessons about the islands for a few weeks now and I very much wanted to ask them how independent they felt their news sources were. Instead I pointed out that they had never heard of these islands a month ago and I predicted they would be forgotton within a further month. And did they realise that the leadership in China was changing at the moment? Coincidence? Revealingly, although most students had heard the name of the man tipped to take over the leadership, none knew anything at all about him. With imminent leadership changes in Japan too, one wonders just how orchestrated this neighbour-bashing is?

0 Comments

Camp believe my eyes

16/9/2012

2 Comments

 
Picture
Construction work in Kunming continues at a phenomenal pace. Even long-term residents here say they've never seen anything like it. New airport, new train station, four new bus stations, new satellite suburb for Government workers and University students, new subway, new pavements (to "beautify" the city) and high-rise flats springing up everywhere. No sign of a recession or economic slump here just yet. Mind you, I'm not sure I'll be visiting this particular area [see photo] once completed, though. What do you think?
2 Comments

Shower me a sign

14/9/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture
We've had two days of heavy rain here, and 24-hours of running water in the house each day. The temptation is the drain the bath (ie cold water storage reservoir) and use the hot running water for a shower. But we've been there before - thinking the water is back for good and then getting it cut a day or two later. Without our full bath, we have to start ladling water out of buckets and collecting rain. Oh, the mysteriousness of it all. Oh, the humanity! If only we knew the Government's intentions. If only they would tell us. If only they knew themselves!

1 Comment

Assembly and departure

12/9/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
We took the volunteers to Kunming No.1 Middle School on Monday as part of their in-country training. Before they observed a typical Chinese lesson they were fascinated to watch a whole-school assembly, with 3000 students on a huge playground being told to clap and thank their teachers for all their hard work (it was "Teacher's Day").

The volunteers fly or get driven on to their placements today, completing their transformation from happy-go-lucky teenage students to professional teachers. That's the plan anyway. They have been  a good group overall and I think there will be few problems over the next 5 months. Their final-day written and verbal feedback on the training course was particularly complimentary too, which is really encouraging.

0 Comments

Trainees Prepared for Teaching Practice

10/9/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture
Yesterday saw my 15 Australian Lattitude volunteers doing observations and an hour's Teaching Practice with "live" students. Pleasing results overall, with nobody arriving late or unprepared,  and the normal class teachers giving largely positive feedback about the volunteers' performance. We have two final days of training now before they head off to their various project placements around China.
1 Comment

A bit of a shock

8/9/2012

 
Picture
After a busy day yesterday with the volunteers I finally got home at 10pm and did a quick online  scan of the day's news. It revealed there had been a sizeable (5.6) earthquake in Yunnan at around noon. Having felt nothing in Kunming, I shot off a quick email to Lattitude Australia to tell them they could reassure any worried parents there that all was well. It was only then that I investigated further to find out where exactly it was. And it turns out it was 13km from the town where I used to work as a volunteer with VSO, JiaoKui. The BBC video showing the afternath even shows my old Middle School [white, left  in the photo above] and students milling around in the playground. About 80 people are thought to have died so far but, after some quick texting, thankfully none of the friends I still keep in touch with there.

Half-way, of course

7/9/2012

2 Comments

 
Picture
The fifteen Aussie volunteers are half-way through their training course. The first 4 days have been building up their skills with a view to their Teaching Practice at the weekend, where they will switch from being students to being teachers, giving an hour's lesson to a class in Robert's School.

Picture
This cohort has been the usual mix of attentive, hardworking trainees and those with more of an eye on the evening socialising! We've also had an explosion of ipads, smart phones and wifi laptops this time which seemed like useful resources at first but have been a bit of a distraction at times. There's always a fine line between encouraging the volunteers to focus on the lesson without being patronising or treating them as children. We'll get there!

2 Comments

B-desh published

5/9/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
My recently-published article in the Merton Chinese Cultural Group Newsletter contrasts China (where I live) with Bangladesh (where I visited last month). Click below if you'd like a read
newsletter_sep_2012.pdf
File Size: 2783 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

0 Comments

There's always one...!

3/9/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture
I spent 2 hours getting to the airport this morning to meet an early-arriving Lattitude volunteer only to find out on arrival that he had missed his connection. He'll try again tomorrow. So another 2 hours back to school to prepare the room for the 8-day training course which starts tomorrow [see above]. The other 14 volunteers arrived safely enough in the afternoon (met by a colleague) and we enjoyed a tasty Welcome Banquet together this evening [see below].
Picture
1 Comment

Watches and laughs

1/9/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
At the moment, Chinese internet microblogs are buzzing about this man, Yang Dacai, Shaanxi’s Safety Bureau Chief. He visited the scene of a recent horrific crash, where 36 people on a sleeper-bus all died when it hit a truck carrying methanol. Unfortunately for Yang, he was photographed laughing whilst there [see above], and Chinese netizens have gone into hate-mode at his insensitivity. They've also tracked down other online photos of him and noticed that he wears different designer watches each day despite only getting a relatively small "official" salary. An investigation has been announced. In his defence, he says he was just trying to relax some upset safety workers and that his hobby is collecting replica timepieces. We'll see...
0 Comments
    paul hider

    Author

    Paul 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

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009

    Tags

    All
    April Fool
    Art Club
    Badminton
    Basketball
    Beijing
    Bike
    Birthday
    Blog
    CAL
    Car
    Car Boot Sale
    Cataract
    Cemetery
    China
    Chinglish
    Chippenham
    ChongQing
    Christmas
    Competition
    Construction
    Cooking
    Cop15
    Countryside
    COVID
    Dali
    Dancing Lady
    Dave & Esme
    Den
    Dentist
    Diabetes
    Disaster
    Diving
    DnD
    Dorta
    Druncle
    Earthquake
    Ebike
    Education
    Everton
    Exams
    Exercise
    Family
    Film
    Fish
    Fishing
    Flashback
    Food
    Forest
    Fossils
    Friends
    Furniture
    Gabriel Mews
    Games
    Garden
    Gary Numan
    Geese
    Gerry Anderson
    Grand Tour
    Gym
    Halloween
    Hamsters
    Handyman
    Health
    Heijing
    Holiday
    Home
    Home Schooling
    Homework
    IELTS
    IKEA
    Illusion
    ILM5
    JD
    Jiajia
    Kindergarten
    Krista And Stuart
    Kunming
    Language
    Laos
    Lattitude
    Leaf
    Lego
    Lexulous
    London
    Ma
    Malaysia
    Mandarin
    Merton
    Mind-gap
    Minority
    Molly
    Mountain
    Movie
    Museum
    Nancy & Family
    Nanny
    Neighbourhood
    New Flat
    Olympics
    Outing
    Painting
    Parents
    Park
    Park Run
    Party
    Paul & Crystal
    Pets
    Photographs
    Podcast
    Police
    Pregnancy
    Primary School
    Private Tuition
    Random Travel
    Relatives
    Renovation
    R.I.P.
    R.S.L.
    Running
    Schools
    Schoolswork
    Sci-fi
    Sheldon
    Shenzhen
    Shopping
    Ski
    Sport
    Spring Festival
    Sri Lanka
    Swimming
    Temple
    TESOL
    Thailand
    Theme Park
    Traffic
    Training
    Transport
    Travel
    Tutoring
    TV
    Typewriters
    UFO
    UK
    UK Move
    UK Return
    University
    Vietnam
    Violence
    Visit
    VSO
    Water
    Weather
    Wedding
    Wildlife
    Wiltshire
    Work
    World Cup
    Xi'An
    Xishuangbanna
    YUFE
    Yunnan
    Zoo
    Zoom

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.