Last week, JD tried his hand at go-karting for the first time. He loved it! At £10 for 10 minutes, it wasn't exactly cheap, but JD was keen enough to pay for it with his own pocket money, so fair enough. He's now talking about having his upcoming birthday party based around a spin on the go-karts with his friends, though I'm not sure if and how that will work out. |
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We continue to pack for our move to the UK, with fingers firmly crossed that Jiajia's visa comes through successfully soon. We are planning to send a dozen boxes 1-2 weeks before we leave, expecting them to arrive at our new address in Chippenham a month or two after we are settled there. It's just hard to know what to send and what to buy once we're there. The "Flying Tigers" were formally known as the "American Volunteer Group", who flew fighter and cargo planes in WWII in Myanmar and China to try and fend off Japanese advances. They are still remembered fondly for supplying food and supplies to war-torn Kunming and its Museum has a permanent exhibition in their memory.
Whenever there's an important Government get-together in Beijing, the "powers that be" flick a switch and suddenly VPNs no longer work. VPNs are the software products that (normally) spoof the internet into thinking you are in another country and thus get round the "Great Firewall of China" which blocks Chinese citizens from using "dangerous" apps like Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Google, Yahoo, BBC, etc. I rely on VPNs to keep in touch with the rest of the world and the Chinese Government appears to tolerate them most of the time. But it just goes to show that when they really want to cut China off from the outside world, they can! Another reason to return home...
The large building being constructed behind our neighbourhood is a little less noisy these days than in the first six months of it going up. JD and I often spot this worker who seems take VERY long lunchbreaks hiding in the shell of the half-finished section nearest our flat. She is often sleeping or looking at her phone - sometimes for hours at an end! Should we report her or celebrate her cheekiness?
Today’s teacher training visit was to BaoZang, the smallest of the eight schools I visit and in the poorest area. One of the English teachers today was practising, “What does your father/mother do?” and every student she asked replied, “He/she is a farmer”! She had to ask them to lie, just to practise the other jobs they had learned in the lesson! Culinary surprise of the day was a plateful of ant eggs at lunch! I had downed a surprisingly tasty mouthful before the translation filtered through. On closer inspection, the occasional egg did indeed have a fried baby ant emerging from it! After eating, we went to see one of the tree-based nests [see photo] where the eggs are “harvested”. I think the ants could smell their babies on my lips as they were crawling up my leg and jumping on my head before I knew it! We had more for supper. When will I have them again ... oh, the “egg-citing ant-is-a-passion” of it ... (having “ant” and “egg” in one phrase is a punsters wet dream!) JD's new Secondary School in Chippenham was finalised yesterday when we accepted an offer of a place at "Sheldon School" (our first choice). Another small step towards our relocation to the UK.
JD has spent the last couple of days photographing and pricing the many toys he realises he won't be able to take to the UK. We've sent lists to my private students, to friends with children and to our local neighbourhood. I think he's found the whole downsizing (and money-making) process quite cathartic!
JD and I shared a nice meal at Swedish IKEA yesterday with a friend of over 20 years, "Nita", and her cute 7-year old daughter "Julia". The last time I saw Julia, she was two years old. Now she speaks some English, thanks to her Mum's ongoing efforts to bring her up bi-lingually. It was lovely to catch up with them. And share some western food!
Despite the last fortnight being a National Holiday, my private lessons have continued apace. In fact, many of the parents have asked for extra lessons because their kids have more free time in the holiday and they know I'm leaving in a few months - cramming in as many lessons as they can, while they can!
JiaJia, JD and I visited Kunming's newly relocated Science Museum yesterday with another Foreigner/Chinese family we know. It has more exhibits than before, and more of them are now in working order! We had a fun couple of hours exploring. Can you see what's unusual about the pillars [above left]?
I'm in no doubt that all of the family will miss Kunming for their own reasons, when we leave in a few months. Jiajia will pine for her friends and the spicy noodles. JD will have to leave a lot of toys and books behind. And it's been a comfortable life for me here for some 16 years. I know my way about and I've investigated every nook and cranny over the years [such as the super-thin "Moon and Chalice hotel", below].
We visited an outlet mall yesterday (primarily to buy new sports shoes for JD) and stumbled across some rather good Chinese New Year celebrations with dancing dragons, stilted monks giving out blessings and acrobatic lions leaping from one high pole to another.
This weekend is likely to be our last Spring Festival in China. JD enjoyed letting off his fireworks yesterday evening and, with no home-schooling for a few days, we can have some late mornings and play some games [eg Risk]. With the Spousal Visa application finally in, we are focusing more now on packing, saying goodbyes and the practicalities of leaving the country. Three months and counting. A gift for me when I was one year old [left], now JD looks after Big Ted and arranged for him to be restuffed a few days after this photo [right] was taken.
Ten weeks of compiling paperwork culminated in the upload of about 40 documents today, hoping that's enough to convince the British Government to give my good wife a Spousal Visa. We head to a biometrics centre on Tuesday for fingerprinting and iris-scanning, after which we have a nervy 3+ months to wait for a decision!
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AuthorPaul Hider lives and works in Kunming (SW China) and regularly updates this blog about his life there. Past blog entries
February 2024
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