We now have the technology to make ham at will. It wasn’t quite your honey roast from the delicatessen but the European residents of this little enclave in China unanimously declared it to be authentic. I had fully expected to have to make several attempts before getting it right and was gratified to be able to make myself a passable cheese and ham baguette at the first knocking. Had I known how simple a job it is to make the stuff I would have started doing it soon after arriving here! I wonder if I could have a crack at making bacon………..
Of course, with the first western Wednesday of this academic year happening next week, there was really no question as to what soup I will make - it HAS to be split pea and proper ham. I’m also going to enter unknown waters by attempting my first ever scotch eggs. not particularly exciting I know but you can’t get them here and combined with mash and baked beans (Heinz of course - are there any others?) it will show the students simple English fare. Mind you, it might be hit and miss with the absence of sausage meat and of course there isn’t the option of ringing for a pizza delivery if it all goes wrong. Desserts will of course be concocted by that show-off Ollivier. I swear the students would eat his chocolate mousse before dinner if we let them.
With a long delay between blogs it is sometimes difficult to remember what has happened but I shall do my best. I got up early on Wednesday so I could get to town in time for a McDonald’s breakfast. I have concluded the best thing they offer by far is the bacon and egg McMuffin. Probably the healthiest as well. A bit of shopping afterwards and that was basically my day.
Thursday I was busy all day doing very little of note except that when my morning class came to the break, one of the boys came out and said he had a question. The question was to the effect of “why was I teaching them a contemporary English lesson instead of a business lesson?“ Unbelievably they hadn’t said a word about my using the wrong book and had sat in virtual silence for forty-five minutes!
Yesterday was manic. Solid classes from 0820 to noon followed by a mad dash home to let Pepsi out for a wee before going out again. I wasn’t best pleased to be greeted by the sight of squitters all over my bedroom floor, something had upset her stomach. I cleaned that up and sped down to the west gate to meet my class who were having the graduation lunch. Most of us took the number seven bus and alighted at the same stop that coincidentally I will be getting off at tonight. Had I known where their restaurant was I could have ridden there because this week has been lovely with temperatures in the mid to high twenties.
I was honoured to have been one of only two of their teachers they invited and better still, I actually liked quite a few of the dishes. There was naturally the usual orgy of gambaying and boys getting drunk and telling me I was a lightweight - despite drinking far more than them and remaining compus mentis. At one point it all got a trifle silly when the girls took a glass and started mixing a cocktail of juice from the dishes, coke, fruit juice, beer etc and daring the boys to drink some of it. It looked revolting. One of the lads (Alan) was urged to be the first and like a fool I ended up encouraging him as well. Seeing his escape route, he declared that if I drank it first then all the four boys would follow suit. To the collective horror of the assembled males who thought they were home scot-free, I took the glass and downed some, declaring it to be delicious. It was utterly stomach-churning. However, fair play to the lads, they all did their bit. Unusually for China, once lunch was finished, instead of all skedaddling immediately everyone retired to another room to continue drinking and playing cards. I did enquire as to how much this feast had cost each student and was astonished to be told 50y (£5) including crates of beer and soft drinks.
Of course with the Lingdian Society’s bash in the evening, my idea of a decent afternoon kip to recharge myself took a direct hit and I ended up getting about thirty minutes shut eye before venturing to the roundhouse for what was a most unusual event for them. Hitherto there have been acts, songs, dances and games but this one was purely to meet everyone and so it was over after an hour, after which they interviewed dozens for the positions of unpaid helpers.
I came home to tackle a couple of proof-reading jobs. I completed one in ten minutes and then was beaten by the second one. Not being a geek I didn’t know that read-only files can’t be edited unless you unlock them so asked Kevin for help. He arrived muttering about how useless I was with computers (he’s not entirely wrong) but when even he couldn’t do anything with it he did have the good grace to retract his comments! Of course the person who had sent the file had long since gone home so this morning I have batted it back to them to either unlock or get the stupid client to do it. I would rather like to finish it this afternoon as I won’t have much time tomorrow.
Tonight I am taking three of my new “wives” for dinner at the Sichuan place - Dumpling, Caroline and Joan. Hence, rather than riding to town, we will take the bus as I said previously. Tomorrow I am at the little school in the afternoon to play games and next week we have the sports days on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Doubtless the beautiful weather will forsake us for that and it will be wet. I won’t be taking any photos of the events though as Lucy my cleaner asked to borrow my camera as she is going to Beijing then. She has however promised to bring me photos of the capital - or the smog, depending!
No comments:
Post a Comment