Ocean of Morality
  • Blog
  • Family
  • Relatives
  • Countries
  • Gallery
  • Guestbook

A? Oi!

30/10/2015

3 Comments

 
Picture
You either need an A for starch or O/I for ostrich. Which is it?
3 Comments

JuDy and JD

28/10/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
JD and I had a lovely day with our good friends from the UK, Peter and Judy, who are in Kunming for a few months. As ever, they came laden with presents which helped JD overscome any shyness rather quickly! We wandered around Green Lake and had a boat ride before sharing lunch and returning to the house for a coffee, a chat and a play with JD. They are a lovely couple, with enviable listening skills! JD was crying, "Where is Judy? I want Judy." for over half an hour after they left.

0 Comments

Nice, nicier, niciest

26/10/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Some cracking Chinglish which I spotted recently.
0 Comments

A JDay in the life...

24/10/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
JD's school doesn't believe in giving much notice about anything. A text to Ava last night informed us that a parent had to be at the school for a couple of hours this morning and then take their child home for the rest of the day. I think the idea was to show some of the things the kids get up to during a typical day. It included an educational cartoon [see above], singing, toilet trips and a cup of tea!

Picture
There was also a simple cooking activity, which involved the children rolling small dough balls [see left] which were then boiled and eaten in a  sweet milk sauce (called "tangyuan"), It was interesting to see how JD interacted with the other students (all of whom are older than him) - not always in a very caring, sharing manner!

Picture
In the afternoon,  had to attend a short meeting at the University where I work, but it was an informal one and they were happy for JD to be there. Afterwards, he and I went to the Uni's swimming pool. I get a  hefty discount as a teacher. It is Olympic-sized, clean and was not at all busy, though a bit chilly. JD was shivering after 20 minutes. We then went to the Teacher's Canteen which served us up some fried rice [see above]. JD fell asleep in the car on the way back. Busy boy.

0 Comments

I can't handle bars

22/10/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
 This morning, I parked my e-bike to drop JD off at school and returned 5 minutes later to find a jail had been constructed around my bike! No sign of any policemen or prison wardens, so I quickly dug an escape tunnel and sped off. What is going on?
1 Comment

Left write

20/10/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
We had a visit recently from a Chinese friend of a friend, called "Adam". JD was quite taken with him and wouldn't be carried by anyone else while he was here. We only had a short time, so we (Ava, JD and myself) took him to Green Lake which is always busy with impromptu singing, dancing and various hobbies (kite-flying seems particularly popular recently). One activity I hadn't seen before were the half dozen folk wielding large brushes and doing Chinese calligraphy with water on the street.

Picture
Apparently they demonstrate their skill for free but passers-by can hire a brush and get a free lesson for 5RMB (50p).

There was no stopping JD, of course, who wangled a free brush and proceeded to "tidy" the messy characters by slapping his wet mop everywhere (much to the delight of the crowd who quickly gathered).

1 Comment

Remarkable

18/10/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
More self-deprecating Chinglish from Mengla.
0 Comments

Km in KunMing

16/10/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
My electric bike is proving a real boon. I can drop JD off at school in 20-30 minutes, depending on traffic. From there to my University work is another 20-30 minutes. From University to home is the same. Very often the roads are completely jammed with stationary cars, but the e-bikes can whizz past in their bike lanes and they rarely clog up for long. Last week I passed the 1500km travelled mark.
0 Comments

GETTING homework?

14/10/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
I've given out my fair share of homework over the past decade or two, but I'm going to have to start getting used to receiving it. Despite being only 2½ years old, JD's kindergarten are already piling on the homework tasks each week and they are way beyond his ability and far outside of his areas of interest. But this is China. The first week was a "junk model" (we sneakily reused a life-sized dragon head I'd made for a previous Halloween), and the next week was a 5-page A4 booklet showing how you care for the environment (it took me two hours - see photo above - JD stuck a few pictures in and cut paper randomly for a while). This week's is a crochet project (see below - JD tossed the ball of wool around). I don't know whether we can keep this up for much longer!
Picture
1 Comment

Cold calling

12/10/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
It's been unseasonably cold and wet the last few days. After the mid-30s of XiShuangBanna last week, we've plummeted to about 10-11°C here in Kunming of late, and with 48 hours of non-stop rain too. We're just not used to it in the "City of Eternal Spring"!
0 Comments

Lifting spirits

10/10/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Two Chinglish lift signs from Mengla which made me smile.
0 Comments

Succor scattering facilities

8/10/2015

0 Comments

 
Mengla proved a particularly rich source of Chinglish, such as this:
Picture
I love the mysterious final instruction. More Mengla Chinglish later.
0 Comments

Tree top attraction

6/10/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Today we visited a Tropical Forest Park. We had imagined it as fairly pristine and untouched but, this being China, it was actually a bit touristy with concrete paths guiding you past various tropical, signposted plants and trees. Animatronic elephants and monkeys screamed as you approached them - a bit sad considering this area used to boast large numbers of the real thing. We did enjoy the treetop walk though - rope bridges strung up at canopy level (50m high) to give you a new appreciation of how tall rainforest trees actually are. JD clearly has no fear of heights as he scampered between the bouncing and swaying bridges!

0 Comments

Pick up, dig up, throw up

4/10/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
We have only praise for the generosity of our friends here, but our daily routine of breakfast, 2hr drive to a village, a banquet, play mahjong or wander around, another banquet and another 2hr drive back to the hotel ...it can get a little tiring after a while. We try to keep JD amused as best we can [the photo on the left was taken on the back of a pick-up jeep over bumpy roads] and look for things of interest along the way. His big love at the moment is construction machines of all types and thankfully (or not?) XiShuangBanna is developing very fast and we play a version of "Excavator I-spy" on our travels.

Picture
Indeed, JD was particularly thrilled today to find a digger parked at the back of one of the houses where we ate.
Picture
XiShuangBanna still has some untouched forest areas, but they're disappearing fast and more commonly seen now are banana plantations and rows upon rows of rubber trees, which we enjoyed seeing up close.
Picture
The food we have been treated to has largely been local dishes, fresh from the fields. Apparently, our hosts have tried to "dial down the chilli" for my sake, which is kind, though I hadn't noticed! The occasional dish has raised eyebrows, however, such as these bamboo grubs. Crunchy and with a smoky flavour, they are a bit like a packet of Monster Munch ...with legs.

1 Comment

Now you see me...

3/10/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
It took us a few minutes to find JD today!
0 Comments

It's a fish'l

2/10/2015

0 Comments

 
We find ourselves in sub-tropical XiShuangBanna, in the far south of Yunnan near the border with Laos. We were picked up last night by "Dancing" Man and Lady and he bravely drove the 12 hours overnight to MengLa town where we have checked into a rather swish hotel.
Picture
The "Dancing" family have good friends down here who are looking after us with banquets, free accommodation and various activities planned. The first of these today was fishing, which JD thoroughly enjoyed, showing no fear of the flapping, sharp-finned little fish!
Picture
After a few hours emptying the pond, we wandered around in the countryside a bit, finding a chilly little stream. With temperatures here in the mid-30s, JD couldn't resist, so he took a dip. After ten minutes, and with no warning at all, the heavens suddenly opened and a torrential downpour threatened to drench us before we got to the car - crossing the stream and climbing the bank wasn't as easy as it looked, with sharp stones and thorny bushes!

Once we'd dried off, we headed back to our hotel where JD and I enjoyed a more conventional swim in their outdoor complementary swimming pool, full of kids who had seemingly never seen a foreigner before, let alone a western child!

Picture
0 Comments
    paul hider

    Author

    Paul Hider lives and works in Kunming (SW China) and regularly updates this blog about his life there.

    Past blog entries

    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
    Basketball
    Birthday
    Blog
    CAL
    Car
    Cataract
    Cemetery
    China
    Chinglish
    Chippenham
    ChongQing
    Christmas
    Competition
    Construction
    Cooking
    Cop15
    Countryside
    COVID
    Dali
    Dancing Lady
    Dave & Esme
    Den
    Dentist
    Disaster
    DnD
    Dorta
    Druncle
    Earthquake
    Ebike
    Education
    Everton
    Exams
    Exercise
    Family
    Film
    Fishing
    Flashback
    Food
    Forest
    Fossils
    Friends
    Furniture
    Games
    Gardening
    Geese
    Gym
    Halloween
    Hamsters
    Health
    Heijing
    Holiday
    Home
    Homework
    IELTS
    IKEA
    Illusion
    JD
    Jiajia
    Kindergarten
    Kunming
    Language
    Laos
    Lattitude
    Leaf
    Lego
    Lexulous
    London
    Ma
    Mandarin
    Merton
    Minority
    Molly
    Mountain
    Movie
    Museum
    Nancy & Family
    Nanny
    Neighbourhood
    New Flat
    Olympics
    Painting
    Parents
    Park
    Party
    Paul & Crystal
    Pets
    Podcast
    Police
    Pregnancy
    Primary School
    Private Tuition
    Random Travel
    Relatives
    Renovation
    R.I.P.
    R.S.L.
    Running
    Schools
    Shenzhen
    Shopping
    Ski
    Sport
    Spring Festival
    Sri Lanka
    Swimming
    Temple
    TESOL
    Thailand
    Theme Park
    Traffic
    Training
    Transport
    Travel
    TV
    UFO
    UK
    University
    Vietnam
    Violence
    Visit
    VSO
    Water
    Weather
    Wedding
    Wildlife
    World Cup
    Xishuangbanna
    YUFE
    Yunnan
    Zoo
    Zoom

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.