Thursday 28th April, 2016 0200
Late yes but no class for me until 1400.
Vivi is coming at noon to pick up Kevin’s credit card statement so I will rise at eleven and shower. You may well ask why after nine months his statements still come here? Well this being China, it is likely they would take his credit card off him if he said he lived in another city and he would then have to go through the rigmarole of reapplying in Huangshan. All well and good but he has no Chinese guarantor there so he would be stuffed.
Being a good ex colleague I went to check the mail in the office today after class to see if there was another newer statement. What with the cordoning off of the teaching areas (where I teach there is no problem accessing the rear of the building I have to go to) they have made it difficult for me to get to the old building where I used to teach. Being a lazy bastard, I discovered a way to get there by mounting the kerb and riding across the grass.
Unfortunately with the heavy rain we have had of late there are lakes that have yet to dry out. Several times I was in danger of “losing” the bike and going splat into the mud but I managed it, although I didn’t fancy doing the return trip. Thankfully when I left I spotted some oyk had removed a cone I made a run for it the easy way. It was only when I got home I noticed where I had used my feet as stabilisers my trainers were covered in mud.
With a laundry due for washing they will have to wait and I may well wash them afterwards with Joan’s towel which she foolishly left in the bathroom and on which three cats slept last night on the bathroom floor. Silly girl.
Tonight Dumpling and I had the enchiladas. She isn’t a Daisy despite her choice of name change, I must try to convince her to be Laura or Tanya instead. Anyway I warned her they were a bit spicy - I used ten chillis. Oh no, they’re not spicy she said. When I tried them, yes they bloody well were! I don’t know about anyone else but spicy food makes me want to blow my nose. A lot.
Now bearing in mind she said they weren’t spicy, how was it that she was picking out anything red and putting it aside? Every fragment of chilli she removed! Having said that she did eat two enchiladas and even I almost managed to as well. For me these days it is nice to actually eat a proper portion of food, it’s not something that happens that often and considering normally I only eat an evening meal that’s saying something.
We have the labour day holiday coming up. The students tell me it is a three day holiday - this Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I did point out to them that it was in fact one day seeing as we don’t work at weekends (although they do have prep at weekends). Joan and I will probably go to Tongling for pizza. What with the train journey and probably bringing back one for the freezer it will be expensive but it would be a shame to waste a holiday when I have so few left here.
Wednesday, 27 April 2016
Wednesday 27th April, 2016 0030
I never thought I would be saying this but the play I wrote I have now cancelled, much to the disappointment of the organisers.
Everyone was sent the script for their observations and suggestions for improvement but yesterday morning I awoke to a shitstorm of texts from Richard. Now this guy is never here and until just now I never even had his phone number so I asked Andrei to forward everything to him. Contrary to my belief even they hardly ever see him.
Well the observations and suggestions offered to me were an outright refusal, allegations of thinking I was his boss and disrespect of him for not approaching him directly. If he was actually home more than he was away then approaching him directly just might have been an option but with limited time to come up with something I did my best. I am now sorry I bothered to spend time coming up with a play that will now never be seen.
Sure, the rest of us could have performed it regardless but I have a really nasty taste in my mouth now and I am not even sure now if I will even turn up to watch the concert, leave alone take part. It is a far cry from the days when Kevin and Ollivier were my colleagues. Certainly we had our disagreements but none of us were impossible to get along with. All that has changed.
The final concert after six years here will now be a sad memorial to my tenure.
On to brighter things. I did manage not to screw up the bread pudding for tomorrow afternoon’s class so they will be happy. I also made minestrone soup which was ok if you discarded the beans, I have no idea what they were (they looked good when I bought them) but they remained hard! Chilli enchiladas are sitting in the fridge for cooking this evening for Dumpling and me. All I need to do is grate some cheese over them. Quite what I will eat on Thursday night is beyond me, given that I have used every vegetable in the flat!
I do find myself in the position of being most unhappy here now. For five and a half years I have loved it but lately, what with being told I am for the scrapheap and yesterday’s (plus other instances) occurrences I am starting to will the day I sign another contract elsewhere. I will not make the effort to befriend fellow foreigners wherever I fetch up, instead I will wait until I find it to be a worthwhile cause. I am quite happy to do my own thing, what I am not happy about is having everything thrown back in my face when I try to do the right thing. I certainly won’t take the lead in any performing monkeys affair, that’s for sure.
Life has its ups and downs. Right now they all seem to be down……..
I never thought I would be saying this but the play I wrote I have now cancelled, much to the disappointment of the organisers.
Everyone was sent the script for their observations and suggestions for improvement but yesterday morning I awoke to a shitstorm of texts from Richard. Now this guy is never here and until just now I never even had his phone number so I asked Andrei to forward everything to him. Contrary to my belief even they hardly ever see him.
Well the observations and suggestions offered to me were an outright refusal, allegations of thinking I was his boss and disrespect of him for not approaching him directly. If he was actually home more than he was away then approaching him directly just might have been an option but with limited time to come up with something I did my best. I am now sorry I bothered to spend time coming up with a play that will now never be seen.
Sure, the rest of us could have performed it regardless but I have a really nasty taste in my mouth now and I am not even sure now if I will even turn up to watch the concert, leave alone take part. It is a far cry from the days when Kevin and Ollivier were my colleagues. Certainly we had our disagreements but none of us were impossible to get along with. All that has changed.
The final concert after six years here will now be a sad memorial to my tenure.
On to brighter things. I did manage not to screw up the bread pudding for tomorrow afternoon’s class so they will be happy. I also made minestrone soup which was ok if you discarded the beans, I have no idea what they were (they looked good when I bought them) but they remained hard! Chilli enchiladas are sitting in the fridge for cooking this evening for Dumpling and me. All I need to do is grate some cheese over them. Quite what I will eat on Thursday night is beyond me, given that I have used every vegetable in the flat!
I do find myself in the position of being most unhappy here now. For five and a half years I have loved it but lately, what with being told I am for the scrapheap and yesterday’s (plus other instances) occurrences I am starting to will the day I sign another contract elsewhere. I will not make the effort to befriend fellow foreigners wherever I fetch up, instead I will wait until I find it to be a worthwhile cause. I am quite happy to do my own thing, what I am not happy about is having everything thrown back in my face when I try to do the right thing. I certainly won’t take the lead in any performing monkeys affair, that’s for sure.
Life has its ups and downs. Right now they all seem to be down……..
Monday, 25 April 2016
Sunday 24th April, 2016 1900
Oh dear, my thoughts posted in the small hours regarding the axing of the French act were indeed well founded. Juliette and Andrei informed me they wouldn’t take part in my play because French is also a foreign language and naturally they want to know why English takes precedence. I later found out that she didn’t intend to sing the song the had suggested either (whidh to rub salt in was, I believe, in English.
Now she may be less than half my age but she did exactly what I would have done. She is aggrieved because English is being classed as superior to her language (which it is of course but then I WOULD say that!) and she is absolutely correct. It’s the foreign languages department so the entire show should be in whichever languages are taught, be it Korean, Japanese, French or English. Chinese should not feature anywhere but it always does and that has always struck me as being wrong. They have other shows they can showcase their own language.
Knowing this afternoon (unbelievably I never got up until 1300) that Juliette was deeply unhappy and that I had been put in a very difficult position I took stock. Firstly the play I had written requires four actors and now I was down to two and probably just me after Richard heard the tale on his return from Changsha and secondly if I agreed to press ahead regardless by drafting in some students, I would be betraying the foreign contingent.
Unbelievably crass and insensitive of the teacher running the show and when you consider that we outsiders are expected to observe all the Chinese values and idiosyncracies, downright insulting .
Therefore I told my student in no uncertain terms that if the French play wasn’t allowed then apart from the fact I wouldn’t have any actors I had been placed in a difficult position, so no foreign teachers would take part in the concert. The trade union branch chairman in me emerged and basically I said it was one out, all out. If one teacher thinks he can arbitrarily exclude a language then he has another think coming unless said language is Chinese.
The latest is that the ultimatum paid off but I have had no contact from Juliette since I sent her a text to that effect. I really hope she hasn’t got the ‘ump permanently simply because of one teacher’s lunacy because it would be a tragedy to let her students, my students and Richard’s students down now that I have pointed out the error of said teacher’s ways.
I am trying to sit down and have a chat with them both but as yet they aren’t home, the only sign of life is their fat little cat. Once I hear movement upstairs I will take a bottle of wine up.
Monday 25th 0300
Never got to see Andrei and Juliette, either they are ignoring me or they were out late. I am not happy because there is a possibility I am being blamed for this even though I was the one who got the go-ahead in the first place for their French play. I think perhaps they don’t know that it is in fact English Month rather the foreign language month. That said, previously all the taught languages have been represented regardless and I went out on a limb yesterday. Fine, they can’t sack me again because I already will be but I still need my release letter and reference so it’s not as if I can act with impunity. After six years of mostly happy times here the last thing I want to do is leave under a cloud even though I don’t want to leave at all.
I will see Juliette this afternoon, she has the class before mine in my room. I am sure she will agree to everything even though I know she is pissed off with what has happened - as indeed I was and would be were I on the receiving end. The thing is, all of this latest ill-feeling was simply caused by one prat of a Chinese teacher (I WILL find out who it was!) and to be honest I really could do without it. Should I be trying to pour oil on troubled waters when I have bigger problems myself, such as getting another damned job?
This is turning into something that at this moment I want to wash my hands of and walk away from. I honestly don’t need this 12 weeks from my unwanted departure.
Oh dear, my thoughts posted in the small hours regarding the axing of the French act were indeed well founded. Juliette and Andrei informed me they wouldn’t take part in my play because French is also a foreign language and naturally they want to know why English takes precedence. I later found out that she didn’t intend to sing the song the had suggested either (whidh to rub salt in was, I believe, in English.
Now she may be less than half my age but she did exactly what I would have done. She is aggrieved because English is being classed as superior to her language (which it is of course but then I WOULD say that!) and she is absolutely correct. It’s the foreign languages department so the entire show should be in whichever languages are taught, be it Korean, Japanese, French or English. Chinese should not feature anywhere but it always does and that has always struck me as being wrong. They have other shows they can showcase their own language.
Knowing this afternoon (unbelievably I never got up until 1300) that Juliette was deeply unhappy and that I had been put in a very difficult position I took stock. Firstly the play I had written requires four actors and now I was down to two and probably just me after Richard heard the tale on his return from Changsha and secondly if I agreed to press ahead regardless by drafting in some students, I would be betraying the foreign contingent.
Unbelievably crass and insensitive of the teacher running the show and when you consider that we outsiders are expected to observe all the Chinese values and idiosyncracies, downright insulting .
Therefore I told my student in no uncertain terms that if the French play wasn’t allowed then apart from the fact I wouldn’t have any actors I had been placed in a difficult position, so no foreign teachers would take part in the concert. The trade union branch chairman in me emerged and basically I said it was one out, all out. If one teacher thinks he can arbitrarily exclude a language then he has another think coming unless said language is Chinese.
The latest is that the ultimatum paid off but I have had no contact from Juliette since I sent her a text to that effect. I really hope she hasn’t got the ‘ump permanently simply because of one teacher’s lunacy because it would be a tragedy to let her students, my students and Richard’s students down now that I have pointed out the error of said teacher’s ways.
I am trying to sit down and have a chat with them both but as yet they aren’t home, the only sign of life is their fat little cat. Once I hear movement upstairs I will take a bottle of wine up.
Monday 25th 0300
Never got to see Andrei and Juliette, either they are ignoring me or they were out late. I am not happy because there is a possibility I am being blamed for this even though I was the one who got the go-ahead in the first place for their French play. I think perhaps they don’t know that it is in fact English Month rather the foreign language month. That said, previously all the taught languages have been represented regardless and I went out on a limb yesterday. Fine, they can’t sack me again because I already will be but I still need my release letter and reference so it’s not as if I can act with impunity. After six years of mostly happy times here the last thing I want to do is leave under a cloud even though I don’t want to leave at all.
I will see Juliette this afternoon, she has the class before mine in my room. I am sure she will agree to everything even though I know she is pissed off with what has happened - as indeed I was and would be were I on the receiving end. The thing is, all of this latest ill-feeling was simply caused by one prat of a Chinese teacher (I WILL find out who it was!) and to be honest I really could do without it. Should I be trying to pour oil on troubled waters when I have bigger problems myself, such as getting another damned job?
This is turning into something that at this moment I want to wash my hands of and walk away from. I honestly don’t need this 12 weeks from my unwanted departure.
Sunday, 24 April 2016
Sunday 24th April, 2016 0100
The day never went as planned but then mine seldom do. I stayed up late watching films, retired and never surfaced apart from a bladder break until getting on for midday. I hadn’t expected to sleep so late as it wasn’t that long after midnight when I went to bed.
Rain was forecast and rain we had and I never intended to go to town, instead the idea was to make inroads into penning the play, prepare the cottage pies ready for cooking when Dumpling came and then have an hour in the office swatting the flies which have resurfaced after winter.
Suddenly I found myself pressed for time. These days I don’t come off choke (the younger readers will not understand the expression!) in the mornings for at least ninety minutes so by the time I had showered and dressed I was up against it time-wise to prepare dinner and then nip out for a change of scene.
I cancelled the cottage pie idea, would have taken too long to mash the spuds etc so I settled for mince and potatoes, much quicker. By 1540 everything was ready in pans simply to turn the heat on when I got back so after sending Dumpling a text to say not to come until 1630 (she came at 1600 regardless, I later found out), I went to the office. What with the rain I was the only customer until just before I left at five. I don’t mind, it gives me time to think in peace, something I often do these days. At some point I must try their new range of lobsters, winkles and baby clams - every time the trays come past me on their way outside to the stall the aroma is enticing, I feel like the cartoon nose in the old Bisto adverts.
Of course when I got back Dumpling had finished cleaning and was sitting in my bedroom waiting, probably playing games on her phone. I put dinner on to cook and started The Poseidon Adventure. Full of nautical inaccuracies of course but I loved Leslie Nielsen as the Captain (and could never take him seriously in his comedic roles after that!). I first saw that film in Bangor cinema in 1973 when HMS Conway had holidays. A few of my fellow cadets had learnt that A Clockwork Orange (notorious in its day) would be showing just before the next term started so we all agreed to return early to watch it together.
On the day though, the chap who had told us had gotten his dates mixed up but as we had walked 7 miles we decided we might as well see the film on offer and that was it. Well Dumpling enjoyed it even though unfortunately there were no subtitles - amazing how many Chinese can read the subtitles yet not keep up with the speech.
And yes, my chilli mince and spuds went down well, I swear she and Joan are developing western palates. It’s good to have “wives” to feed. Ok, it costs a little more but it gives me the impetus to shift my bum and cook because often if it’s just me I don’t bother.
Oh yes, yesterday was a big exam for my ex sophomore students, the dreaded TEM, test for English majors. Joan thinks she failed, Dumpling is undecided. If they fail they can only blame themselves - both had a native Englishman on tap any time they wanted but neither took advantage. You can lead a horse to water……….
Anyway after Dumpling left I had a text from Justin. Today they vetoed Juliette and Andrei’s play and she will sing a song instead. Quite apart from the fact I wouldn’t blame the pair for thinking I had anything to do with scuppering their plans even though I didn’t, I am actually bloody annoyed. As usual it’s all about time. Well that’s fine but I will bet a pound to shovel of shit there will be ONE act that goes on forever, thus depriving everyone else the chance to take their full quarter of an hour. Happens every year and the guilty act will be as usual in Chinese so I won’t even have the luxury of even understanding it. Doesn’t matter as I will probably be backstage most of the time anyway - someone needs to do up my Tang jacket because as sure as hell I have no idea how it works!
Once Dumpling had left I wrote our sketch and now await suggestions for additions or improvements from the others. Of course, in order to make allowance for the now cancelled French act, I kept it reasonably brief. We may need to pad it out a little now. This reminds me of my first year here when Georgina and crew roped me in to act in their play and we actually had to audition. People who have read my blog from the outset will recall the tears when they were told to cut the performance from 15 minutes (which they were told they had) to seven minutes. That year both Kevin and I threatened that neither of us would perform so as to free up time for Georgina’s lot to have the required amount of stage time they needed. In those days we were valued for such things and so, faced with no foreign presence on stage (at that time we were the only two foreign teachers - and we meant it) they buckled and acceded to the act proceeding in full. The sad thing was, they still had Kevin read a poem which bored the hell out of me and everyone else, including I suspect Kevin. And the president of the student union’s act went on for 29 minutes.
However, I don’t want to leave here on bad terms and of course Andrei and Juliette will be seasoned hands next year so I am certain they can rope in the replacement English teachers and make the act French if only one is allowed. It still rankles though, how they spring these things at the last minute (and remember their idea was a communal song for God’s sake!), you come up with something better which they agree with and then 24 hours later they change it. If China ever has a war their military will probably be given two day’s notice and orders which will be changed hours later.
If our little sketch goes well, this time I hope to be able to secure the footage a lot sooner than the last time. Now I think I know where to get it from, I didn’t even know where to go or that it even existed outside the IT dept two years ago.
So first draft done, hopefully just light rain tomorrow so I will indeed go shopping and if I feel adventurous I might finally get around to trying my hand at sausage rolls. Don’t hold your breath………….
The day never went as planned but then mine seldom do. I stayed up late watching films, retired and never surfaced apart from a bladder break until getting on for midday. I hadn’t expected to sleep so late as it wasn’t that long after midnight when I went to bed.
Rain was forecast and rain we had and I never intended to go to town, instead the idea was to make inroads into penning the play, prepare the cottage pies ready for cooking when Dumpling came and then have an hour in the office swatting the flies which have resurfaced after winter.
Suddenly I found myself pressed for time. These days I don’t come off choke (the younger readers will not understand the expression!) in the mornings for at least ninety minutes so by the time I had showered and dressed I was up against it time-wise to prepare dinner and then nip out for a change of scene.
I cancelled the cottage pie idea, would have taken too long to mash the spuds etc so I settled for mince and potatoes, much quicker. By 1540 everything was ready in pans simply to turn the heat on when I got back so after sending Dumpling a text to say not to come until 1630 (she came at 1600 regardless, I later found out), I went to the office. What with the rain I was the only customer until just before I left at five. I don’t mind, it gives me time to think in peace, something I often do these days. At some point I must try their new range of lobsters, winkles and baby clams - every time the trays come past me on their way outside to the stall the aroma is enticing, I feel like the cartoon nose in the old Bisto adverts.
Of course when I got back Dumpling had finished cleaning and was sitting in my bedroom waiting, probably playing games on her phone. I put dinner on to cook and started The Poseidon Adventure. Full of nautical inaccuracies of course but I loved Leslie Nielsen as the Captain (and could never take him seriously in his comedic roles after that!). I first saw that film in Bangor cinema in 1973 when HMS Conway had holidays. A few of my fellow cadets had learnt that A Clockwork Orange (notorious in its day) would be showing just before the next term started so we all agreed to return early to watch it together.
On the day though, the chap who had told us had gotten his dates mixed up but as we had walked 7 miles we decided we might as well see the film on offer and that was it. Well Dumpling enjoyed it even though unfortunately there were no subtitles - amazing how many Chinese can read the subtitles yet not keep up with the speech.
And yes, my chilli mince and spuds went down well, I swear she and Joan are developing western palates. It’s good to have “wives” to feed. Ok, it costs a little more but it gives me the impetus to shift my bum and cook because often if it’s just me I don’t bother.
Oh yes, yesterday was a big exam for my ex sophomore students, the dreaded TEM, test for English majors. Joan thinks she failed, Dumpling is undecided. If they fail they can only blame themselves - both had a native Englishman on tap any time they wanted but neither took advantage. You can lead a horse to water……….
Anyway after Dumpling left I had a text from Justin. Today they vetoed Juliette and Andrei’s play and she will sing a song instead. Quite apart from the fact I wouldn’t blame the pair for thinking I had anything to do with scuppering their plans even though I didn’t, I am actually bloody annoyed. As usual it’s all about time. Well that’s fine but I will bet a pound to shovel of shit there will be ONE act that goes on forever, thus depriving everyone else the chance to take their full quarter of an hour. Happens every year and the guilty act will be as usual in Chinese so I won’t even have the luxury of even understanding it. Doesn’t matter as I will probably be backstage most of the time anyway - someone needs to do up my Tang jacket because as sure as hell I have no idea how it works!
Once Dumpling had left I wrote our sketch and now await suggestions for additions or improvements from the others. Of course, in order to make allowance for the now cancelled French act, I kept it reasonably brief. We may need to pad it out a little now. This reminds me of my first year here when Georgina and crew roped me in to act in their play and we actually had to audition. People who have read my blog from the outset will recall the tears when they were told to cut the performance from 15 minutes (which they were told they had) to seven minutes. That year both Kevin and I threatened that neither of us would perform so as to free up time for Georgina’s lot to have the required amount of stage time they needed. In those days we were valued for such things and so, faced with no foreign presence on stage (at that time we were the only two foreign teachers - and we meant it) they buckled and acceded to the act proceeding in full. The sad thing was, they still had Kevin read a poem which bored the hell out of me and everyone else, including I suspect Kevin. And the president of the student union’s act went on for 29 minutes.
However, I don’t want to leave here on bad terms and of course Andrei and Juliette will be seasoned hands next year so I am certain they can rope in the replacement English teachers and make the act French if only one is allowed. It still rankles though, how they spring these things at the last minute (and remember their idea was a communal song for God’s sake!), you come up with something better which they agree with and then 24 hours later they change it. If China ever has a war their military will probably be given two day’s notice and orders which will be changed hours later.
If our little sketch goes well, this time I hope to be able to secure the footage a lot sooner than the last time. Now I think I know where to get it from, I didn’t even know where to go or that it even existed outside the IT dept two years ago.
So first draft done, hopefully just light rain tomorrow so I will indeed go shopping and if I feel adventurous I might finally get around to trying my hand at sausage rolls. Don’t hold your breath………….
Saturday, 23 April 2016
Saturday 23rd April, 2016 0200
Ok nearly bedtime. Tonight was I hope the last English corner for both this semester and also sadly for me. It was held by the class which all of whom swapped majors over the spring festival after their first term and I have to say theirs was the best of the lot. I even managed to get a girl (virtually unheard of) to go apple bobbing in my last game.
I now have a very busy weekend ahead. The big concert is on Wednesday 4th May which is a week Wednesday. Thank God I had the germ of an idea for last year’s show which for some inexplicable reason was cancelled due to lack of interest - more I suspect on the part of the school than the students.
So this weekend I need to hurriedly come up with a script for a play - no way are we going to perform the song they chose for us! The lad that is running it was my student until they changed all the classes so I think actually he is quite pleased we have offered to do something else of our own.
Our idea was approved (maximum time being 15 minutes) and so I informed Juliette. You don’t expect a sideswipe from your foreign colleagues but she gave me a severe left-hander when she said she and Andrei were working on a play about French culture. This within a day of me saying I wouldn’t sing and asking them if they would act in my play and yet at the time Andrei washed his hands and Juliette was resigned to singing!
Was I annoyed? No of course not, great to see them entering into the spirit but as the conduit and “fixer” it was with some concern I contacted Justin to say that the laowei would do two short sketches. Fifteen minutes is a long time to keep up interest from the audience (and without checking I think our legendary Heathrow customs one was less than ten).
Word came back that it was fine but they had scheduled twelve acts at fifteen minutes apiece. If past experience is anything to go by there will be one act that hogs half an hour but that’s their problem. I told them we would keep our two combined to a quarter of an hour. We may go over a few minutes but so what?
Then I was texted that their teacher wanted us to perform the acts next week before the show. Whoa!!! I had this very same problem two years ago with the Heathrow sketch. They want to make sure we wouldn’t make any political statements or inappropriate comments, of that I‘m sure. I refused then and I refused this time - they either want us on the show or they don’t but I am damned if I am going to come up with an idea and perform it beforehand so the entire university ends up knowing what’s coming before we set foot on stage. I told them to trust me (we will all review both acts just to make sure there’s nothing sensitive and already I have run the final line in my play past Joan and tonight’s form teacher and been told there’s no problem if it is used for a laugh so I am happy that whatever I write will be Chinese PC. All I need is further suggestions from the others once I have produced the first draft, if any are needed.
Andrei and Juliette are doing theirs in French and whilst in my office I was about to text jokingly about subtitles after I had pointed out not many would understand La Francais when she sent me a message saying they were going to subtitle it! Great.
Anyway, the Chinese teacher who is presumably overseeing the show caved in and we do not have to “audition” or be vetted. Just as well or there would have been no foreign presence on stage. I understand where students are concerned but considering there is never a Chinese teacher up there I wonder if they would demand that should one actually audition? And WHY do they not take part? Oh wow! Just had an idea!!! I wonder if Anthony would join us????
I will send him a message in the morning but he is a shit for responding at weekends.
So in the morning, no shopping, just the office for an hour at some point, preparing a batch of chilli cottage pies (Dumpling will be cleaning again so I feel obliged) and dreaming up a script. Sunday I will shop but probably still work on the script - they never give you long here!
Ok nearly bedtime. Tonight was I hope the last English corner for both this semester and also sadly for me. It was held by the class which all of whom swapped majors over the spring festival after their first term and I have to say theirs was the best of the lot. I even managed to get a girl (virtually unheard of) to go apple bobbing in my last game.
I now have a very busy weekend ahead. The big concert is on Wednesday 4th May which is a week Wednesday. Thank God I had the germ of an idea for last year’s show which for some inexplicable reason was cancelled due to lack of interest - more I suspect on the part of the school than the students.
So this weekend I need to hurriedly come up with a script for a play - no way are we going to perform the song they chose for us! The lad that is running it was my student until they changed all the classes so I think actually he is quite pleased we have offered to do something else of our own.
Our idea was approved (maximum time being 15 minutes) and so I informed Juliette. You don’t expect a sideswipe from your foreign colleagues but she gave me a severe left-hander when she said she and Andrei were working on a play about French culture. This within a day of me saying I wouldn’t sing and asking them if they would act in my play and yet at the time Andrei washed his hands and Juliette was resigned to singing!
Was I annoyed? No of course not, great to see them entering into the spirit but as the conduit and “fixer” it was with some concern I contacted Justin to say that the laowei would do two short sketches. Fifteen minutes is a long time to keep up interest from the audience (and without checking I think our legendary Heathrow customs one was less than ten).
Word came back that it was fine but they had scheduled twelve acts at fifteen minutes apiece. If past experience is anything to go by there will be one act that hogs half an hour but that’s their problem. I told them we would keep our two combined to a quarter of an hour. We may go over a few minutes but so what?
Then I was texted that their teacher wanted us to perform the acts next week before the show. Whoa!!! I had this very same problem two years ago with the Heathrow sketch. They want to make sure we wouldn’t make any political statements or inappropriate comments, of that I‘m sure. I refused then and I refused this time - they either want us on the show or they don’t but I am damned if I am going to come up with an idea and perform it beforehand so the entire university ends up knowing what’s coming before we set foot on stage. I told them to trust me (we will all review both acts just to make sure there’s nothing sensitive and already I have run the final line in my play past Joan and tonight’s form teacher and been told there’s no problem if it is used for a laugh so I am happy that whatever I write will be Chinese PC. All I need is further suggestions from the others once I have produced the first draft, if any are needed.
Andrei and Juliette are doing theirs in French and whilst in my office I was about to text jokingly about subtitles after I had pointed out not many would understand La Francais when she sent me a message saying they were going to subtitle it! Great.
Anyway, the Chinese teacher who is presumably overseeing the show caved in and we do not have to “audition” or be vetted. Just as well or there would have been no foreign presence on stage. I understand where students are concerned but considering there is never a Chinese teacher up there I wonder if they would demand that should one actually audition? And WHY do they not take part? Oh wow! Just had an idea!!! I wonder if Anthony would join us????
I will send him a message in the morning but he is a shit for responding at weekends.
So in the morning, no shopping, just the office for an hour at some point, preparing a batch of chilli cottage pies (Dumpling will be cleaning again so I feel obliged) and dreaming up a script. Sunday I will shop but probably still work on the script - they never give you long here!
Friday, 22 April 2016
Friday 22nd April, 2016 0245
Late again but I have until 1600 Monday off, nothing on as yet other than the final English corner at 1830 later today and a shopping trip to get in between now and then. So a late night and hopefully a late rise is on the cards.
It would seem I will be the only laowei at the English corner, Richard presumably heading off to visit the girlfriend and of course Andrei and Juliette with their Chinese lessons. I must ask them where they take them, not because I want to have classes myself but because if they are free from the school (part of the initial contract offer when I joined and Kevin asked but never received).
In early May - this is English month, hence all the corners - this year they are actually having a summer concert for the foreign languages department (it was cancelled last year). In typical fashion the foreigners were approached two days ago to perform, that gives us ten days to a fortnight at a guess as I don’t know the exact date it will take place but I am sure not long after the labour holiday.
Justin (one of my ex students and the one who dumped Dumpling) is something on the student union and came to see me. Would I sing a song? No I bloody wouldn’t, said I, which didn’t seem to be received that well. I said to give me a few days and I would tell him what I WOULD do. After that lesson I met Andrei and Juliette downstairs, he having just ridden her down to start her class after I finished. A little later I discovered why my answer created so much disappointment.
Well Andrei and Juliette are China novices in respect of how this uni works and Andrei, not actually being employed here was having none of it but I think Juliette was resigned to singing. Did I get the link to the song, they asked? No, I was only asked an hour ago. They played it to me and informed me they wanted Richard, Juliette and I all to sing it, half in English and half French! They had CHOSEN a song!!! They have as much chance of me doing that as my becoming the dean here. I can sing but always songs that need no accompanying music - Wild Rover, Court of King Caractacus, Botany Bay etc but Karaoke on stage? Not on your Nelly.
So hastily over the weekend I need to devise a sketch we can all (including Andrei) take part in so that none of us have to go through the ignominy of producing singing which would doubtless sound akin to a zither and a cat trapped in a microwave. I have an idea, whether we can make it as funny as two years ago remains to be seen but the kernel is there.
In the meantime the agency responded to my question, the school they have in mind is in Hebei province, not far from Beijing. Great, -22C in the winter and pissing with rain in the summer. However a wrinklie can’t be too choosy so I just hope the contract is a lot less draconian the first one they offered me and that the pay is better than here. I haven’t checked out the cost of living index yet as I have no clue as to which city they are thinking of and anyway I still have to get through the interview.
So this afternoon Anthony called me between classes to say that Miss Yin had copied the foreign expert certificate and could I go and collect it. I protested that I had asked that a photo be taken and it be emailed to me and was told that I could take a picture of the copy myself. Fair comment but I had class all afternoon. Send a student.
Well the students never go anywhere singly, there always has to be a brace! So I lost two students for fifteen minutes. The bloody copy is so faint I don’t even know if the agency will be able to read it clearly unless they can enhance it with Photoshop or something. I did my best with whatever it is I use to fix my photos but it still wasn’t good. I hope it’s ok as I am eager to find out the details, which of course I won’t be given until they have all the documentation.
I am back to even more disturbed sleep than normal purely because of my uncertain future, once I have a contract/job offer then at least I will know I have a home to go to. I will still worry about the logistics of actually moving out and shipping my stuff - especially that distance (at a guess 800 miles) and of course the cats need to be banished.
Well as all of them except Lottie (the only cat I wish I never clapped eyes on because she piddles everywhere bar where she should) have showed tendencies to make a bid for freedom. As I have said before the plan is that when it gets warmer I will leave the stairwell window open so they can escape and hopefully turn feral.
Dumpling cleans on Wednesdays and Saturdays and so far I have fed her dinner on each occasion, Wednesday being fish and chips. In order to not be here on Wednesdays so that she can clean the place without my having to keep moving, I go to the office for an hour or so and return when she has finished in order to cook. I had just opened my second bottle when she texted that “the” cat had ran out of the door (presumably as she arrived) and run upstairs and didn’t want to come back. She didn’t know what to do. Was it the naughty one? I asked. Yes. That meant Zorro. Forget it I told her, I will deal with it when I came back, after all I want them all to have freedom soon!
I didn’t have to deal with it because he was back when I got home. I knew what had happened before I asked - Zorro had come back of his own accord, jumped up on the windowsill and waited until Dumpling opened the window to let him in. That concerns me in that if they get used to coming and going at will, when the time comes I may have to physically boot them out in case they get locked in and die of starvation. Herding cats is one of life’s impossibilities.
Sometimes I think I should have chosen a career as a bookkeeper just to keep my life in the realms of nine to five Monday to Friday, Sunday roast and two weeks holiday each year in Bournemouth!
Late again but I have until 1600 Monday off, nothing on as yet other than the final English corner at 1830 later today and a shopping trip to get in between now and then. So a late night and hopefully a late rise is on the cards.
It would seem I will be the only laowei at the English corner, Richard presumably heading off to visit the girlfriend and of course Andrei and Juliette with their Chinese lessons. I must ask them where they take them, not because I want to have classes myself but because if they are free from the school (part of the initial contract offer when I joined and Kevin asked but never received).
In early May - this is English month, hence all the corners - this year they are actually having a summer concert for the foreign languages department (it was cancelled last year). In typical fashion the foreigners were approached two days ago to perform, that gives us ten days to a fortnight at a guess as I don’t know the exact date it will take place but I am sure not long after the labour holiday.
Justin (one of my ex students and the one who dumped Dumpling) is something on the student union and came to see me. Would I sing a song? No I bloody wouldn’t, said I, which didn’t seem to be received that well. I said to give me a few days and I would tell him what I WOULD do. After that lesson I met Andrei and Juliette downstairs, he having just ridden her down to start her class after I finished. A little later I discovered why my answer created so much disappointment.
Well Andrei and Juliette are China novices in respect of how this uni works and Andrei, not actually being employed here was having none of it but I think Juliette was resigned to singing. Did I get the link to the song, they asked? No, I was only asked an hour ago. They played it to me and informed me they wanted Richard, Juliette and I all to sing it, half in English and half French! They had CHOSEN a song!!! They have as much chance of me doing that as my becoming the dean here. I can sing but always songs that need no accompanying music - Wild Rover, Court of King Caractacus, Botany Bay etc but Karaoke on stage? Not on your Nelly.
So hastily over the weekend I need to devise a sketch we can all (including Andrei) take part in so that none of us have to go through the ignominy of producing singing which would doubtless sound akin to a zither and a cat trapped in a microwave. I have an idea, whether we can make it as funny as two years ago remains to be seen but the kernel is there.
In the meantime the agency responded to my question, the school they have in mind is in Hebei province, not far from Beijing. Great, -22C in the winter and pissing with rain in the summer. However a wrinklie can’t be too choosy so I just hope the contract is a lot less draconian the first one they offered me and that the pay is better than here. I haven’t checked out the cost of living index yet as I have no clue as to which city they are thinking of and anyway I still have to get through the interview.
So this afternoon Anthony called me between classes to say that Miss Yin had copied the foreign expert certificate and could I go and collect it. I protested that I had asked that a photo be taken and it be emailed to me and was told that I could take a picture of the copy myself. Fair comment but I had class all afternoon. Send a student.
Well the students never go anywhere singly, there always has to be a brace! So I lost two students for fifteen minutes. The bloody copy is so faint I don’t even know if the agency will be able to read it clearly unless they can enhance it with Photoshop or something. I did my best with whatever it is I use to fix my photos but it still wasn’t good. I hope it’s ok as I am eager to find out the details, which of course I won’t be given until they have all the documentation.
I am back to even more disturbed sleep than normal purely because of my uncertain future, once I have a contract/job offer then at least I will know I have a home to go to. I will still worry about the logistics of actually moving out and shipping my stuff - especially that distance (at a guess 800 miles) and of course the cats need to be banished.
Well as all of them except Lottie (the only cat I wish I never clapped eyes on because she piddles everywhere bar where she should) have showed tendencies to make a bid for freedom. As I have said before the plan is that when it gets warmer I will leave the stairwell window open so they can escape and hopefully turn feral.
Dumpling cleans on Wednesdays and Saturdays and so far I have fed her dinner on each occasion, Wednesday being fish and chips. In order to not be here on Wednesdays so that she can clean the place without my having to keep moving, I go to the office for an hour or so and return when she has finished in order to cook. I had just opened my second bottle when she texted that “the” cat had ran out of the door (presumably as she arrived) and run upstairs and didn’t want to come back. She didn’t know what to do. Was it the naughty one? I asked. Yes. That meant Zorro. Forget it I told her, I will deal with it when I came back, after all I want them all to have freedom soon!
I didn’t have to deal with it because he was back when I got home. I knew what had happened before I asked - Zorro had come back of his own accord, jumped up on the windowsill and waited until Dumpling opened the window to let him in. That concerns me in that if they get used to coming and going at will, when the time comes I may have to physically boot them out in case they get locked in and die of starvation. Herding cats is one of life’s impossibilities.
Sometimes I think I should have chosen a career as a bookkeeper just to keep my life in the realms of nine to five Monday to Friday, Sunday roast and two weeks holiday each year in Bournemouth!
Tuesday, 19 April 2016
Tuesday 19th April, 2016 2040
Well. On Monday I feasted well on ham, mash, peas and Branston and it felt good. My class meanwhile dined on bread pudding I made for them the night before. Sadly tomorrow afternoon’s class will have to wait another week because for the first time, this evening I failed to cook it long enough and I can’t serve that up to them. Better luck next time.
I eventually got my gas this morning, the price is never the same twice on the trot and in fact today it was the lowest ever at 80y. It seemed a little sad that this is the last bottle I will ever buy here.
In the early hours of this morning I emailed the employment agency registering my concerns over the lack of any further job prospects and asking them whether Tongling were advertising. Whilst it spans two campuses (not ideal) it would have the advantage of being twenty minutes away from here on the train. I received a reply saying they were working on it.
Joan came for a shower and to study for a while before returning to her dorm and I had made tomato soup, a lot more successfully than the last time I attempted it and so she had a bowlful, as did I. Tomorrow for Dumpling and I it will be fish and chips with bread and butter.
The agency now wants copies of my residence permit and foreign expert certificate because the new school they are trying to line up want to see them. Where on earth it is I have no idea and I guess the agent had left for the night when I emailed to ask the location. The residence permit was no problem but of course the foreign expert certificate is, seeing as Miss Yin has retained it. I have now asked Anthony if he would be so kind as to go and photograph it and email me. I will probably end up having to do it myself in the end though. At least I am getting some action now.
There are occasions here when I hear explosions or what sound like them. Not fireworks, the lights don’t go out but they do sound like detonations of some kind and it has mystified me every time. One such report, actually three in quick succession, I heard not much before midnight last night. I would love to know what they are because they really are extremely loud.
Tonight though I must try to get to sleep at a respectable hour, Wednesday is the only day of the week at present that I need to get up “early” so maybe just one Foyle’s War for me after I post this entry.
Well. On Monday I feasted well on ham, mash, peas and Branston and it felt good. My class meanwhile dined on bread pudding I made for them the night before. Sadly tomorrow afternoon’s class will have to wait another week because for the first time, this evening I failed to cook it long enough and I can’t serve that up to them. Better luck next time.
I eventually got my gas this morning, the price is never the same twice on the trot and in fact today it was the lowest ever at 80y. It seemed a little sad that this is the last bottle I will ever buy here.
In the early hours of this morning I emailed the employment agency registering my concerns over the lack of any further job prospects and asking them whether Tongling were advertising. Whilst it spans two campuses (not ideal) it would have the advantage of being twenty minutes away from here on the train. I received a reply saying they were working on it.
Joan came for a shower and to study for a while before returning to her dorm and I had made tomato soup, a lot more successfully than the last time I attempted it and so she had a bowlful, as did I. Tomorrow for Dumpling and I it will be fish and chips with bread and butter.
The agency now wants copies of my residence permit and foreign expert certificate because the new school they are trying to line up want to see them. Where on earth it is I have no idea and I guess the agent had left for the night when I emailed to ask the location. The residence permit was no problem but of course the foreign expert certificate is, seeing as Miss Yin has retained it. I have now asked Anthony if he would be so kind as to go and photograph it and email me. I will probably end up having to do it myself in the end though. At least I am getting some action now.
There are occasions here when I hear explosions or what sound like them. Not fireworks, the lights don’t go out but they do sound like detonations of some kind and it has mystified me every time. One such report, actually three in quick succession, I heard not much before midnight last night. I would love to know what they are because they really are extremely loud.
Tonight though I must try to get to sleep at a respectable hour, Wednesday is the only day of the week at present that I need to get up “early” so maybe just one Foyle’s War for me after I post this entry.
Monday, 18 April 2016
Monday 18th April, 2016 0400
Again it is late but twelve hours until my class and I assume Anthony has completely forgotten to organise another gas bottle for me seeing as it never turned up Sunday morning (although I said either Sunday or Monday at eleven or after) but I don’t know that I won’t have an insistent knock on the door in seven hours. I wouldn’t mind so much but the gasman knocks a couple of times, knows I am probably the only person on campus who leaves his door unlocked when he is at home, so he opens the bloody door, forgetting I have cats that escape.
It’s not warm enough yet for me to start hoping they will in fact escape.
Ok let me explain my absence even though it wasn’t that long. Well when I woke up on Friday we had no electricity. A shower was out of the question and I needed to go to town. I abhor leaving home without having showered. I waited for a while and then bit the bullet and started putting on Thursday’s clothes - no point in putting clean ones on if I wasn’t!
Just as I was about to leave there were pings and my appliances came back on. A few minutes later we had water. Shower, then downtown. No way would we have internet because it takes anything up to forty-five minutes for the main server to reboot.
Did my shopping, returned and still no internet. I tried everything I knew (which is not a lot) but no way was I getting online. I knew we would have a power cut in the early hours as we had had lightning and it always happens but this was many hours later. I didn’t have much time to spend on the problem because we had English corner and thank God Richard was on campus and had come up with a game because for one of mine I needed the internet for information (I now regret not bringing my Pears Cyclopaedia) but betwixt the pair of us I think we made them happy. So happy in fact that it went on until damned near 2100.
Joan was at mine studying because I had promised her smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels, another first for her. The dinner wasn’t a problem but the internet was. Having sent a text to Dumpling I was told yes, the dorms had internet. I had already probably upset everyone in our section of the building by killing the main breaker to try to get our local server to reset but that hadn’t worked so I sent Anthony a text.
With nothing else to do, I had one bagel and Joan two (although the second she kept for breakfast) and on the spur instead of showing her something I had downloaded from the BBC I put her at the helm of the RMS Titanic on my simulator to try to show her how difficult it actually is to pilot a ship.
Well she didn’t get to the point of going aground or having a collision because Anthony turned up at the door. Slightly embarrassing for Joan as she was in her pyjamas but before anyone comments they were Chinese pyjamas, the ones they even go shopping in! More like teddy bear costumes than something people actually wear to sleep in. The problem was, it turns out Anthony is her form head teacher! She felt uncomfortable, for me unnecessary, she is my great friend and helper, I doubt Anthony gave it a second thought as he knows we are friends, nor would he want to organise my Taobao shopping every month! He also wants to join my HMS Conway friends and family Yahoo group and once he does I am sure he will be discreet as to what I say.
Anyway he made a phone call to someone in IT and after a while restored my internet. Un-bloody-believably once again it was only the foreign teachers who hadn’t had internet restored. How many times has this happened? I was however extremely grateful for his assistance because considering everything was in Chinese (Google translate doesn’t work if you are not on the VPN and so you have to be online first) and it was a process neither Anthony nor I had seen before and I would still be offline.
On Saturday morning I awoke ill.
Ejecting matter from both top and bottom, the latter in quantity. I thought perhaps the transit time for the smoked salmon had been too long (I froze it the moment it arrived) and yet Joan never suffered any ill effects and she had twice what I did. There was no trip to town that day. I did venture out to the office and with my customary two bottles there were times where I felt I may have to run outside and vomit and others when I was concerned I might need a complete lower laundry change.
I felt awful.
On Saturday night Alice asked how my checking of her 5,000 word thesis was going. Well in fariness I had been busy but I confess I had completely forgotten about it. Feeling guilty and ill, nonetheless I said I would try to do it that night. Oh, she wanted to come. Ok after Dumpling has left when she has eaten.
Poor Dumpling never got to see a film because I had to edit the thesis (that would have earnt me 550y online but for students here it is gratis) and then Alice turned up with Cherry. They wanted a film! Zootopia to start with. Well that’s been removed due to copyright on the sites I use. Ok, Ex Machina (God they want to watch some weird stuff) which played for ten minutes and then stopped and said we have to register! In the end I taught them a lesson and showed them Alien.
Sunday I still felt drab (remember from Friday night I had eaten one bagel and Saturday not even a biscuit) but I went shopping. When I returned Joan was already taking a shower and was starving. Had she said before then I could have cooked one of the frozen supermarket pizzas in the freezer but instead she nicked four slices of toast and strawberry jam, took a twenty minute nap and then disappeared with indecent haste to go to the Boxue building to continue studying.
Me? I toasted a bagel (still unsure what caused my gastric problems even though two others reported no problems) and slapped pineapple jam on it. Hardly substantial but then I don’t eat much and I intend to have mash, ham, peas and Branston tomorrow and that will set me up for three days at least.
And so if there is not an email awaiting me when I wake up regarding a job interview it will be time for action. I know schools get desperate as time goes on but I would rather they did than me. The agency that everyone recommends is telling me my age is a problem and yet the same jobs are being advertised elsewhere and the school ads say “exceptions may be made”. Well I am an exception.
Again it is late but twelve hours until my class and I assume Anthony has completely forgotten to organise another gas bottle for me seeing as it never turned up Sunday morning (although I said either Sunday or Monday at eleven or after) but I don’t know that I won’t have an insistent knock on the door in seven hours. I wouldn’t mind so much but the gasman knocks a couple of times, knows I am probably the only person on campus who leaves his door unlocked when he is at home, so he opens the bloody door, forgetting I have cats that escape.
It’s not warm enough yet for me to start hoping they will in fact escape.
Ok let me explain my absence even though it wasn’t that long. Well when I woke up on Friday we had no electricity. A shower was out of the question and I needed to go to town. I abhor leaving home without having showered. I waited for a while and then bit the bullet and started putting on Thursday’s clothes - no point in putting clean ones on if I wasn’t!
Just as I was about to leave there were pings and my appliances came back on. A few minutes later we had water. Shower, then downtown. No way would we have internet because it takes anything up to forty-five minutes for the main server to reboot.
Did my shopping, returned and still no internet. I tried everything I knew (which is not a lot) but no way was I getting online. I knew we would have a power cut in the early hours as we had had lightning and it always happens but this was many hours later. I didn’t have much time to spend on the problem because we had English corner and thank God Richard was on campus and had come up with a game because for one of mine I needed the internet for information (I now regret not bringing my Pears Cyclopaedia) but betwixt the pair of us I think we made them happy. So happy in fact that it went on until damned near 2100.
Joan was at mine studying because I had promised her smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels, another first for her. The dinner wasn’t a problem but the internet was. Having sent a text to Dumpling I was told yes, the dorms had internet. I had already probably upset everyone in our section of the building by killing the main breaker to try to get our local server to reset but that hadn’t worked so I sent Anthony a text.
With nothing else to do, I had one bagel and Joan two (although the second she kept for breakfast) and on the spur instead of showing her something I had downloaded from the BBC I put her at the helm of the RMS Titanic on my simulator to try to show her how difficult it actually is to pilot a ship.
Well she didn’t get to the point of going aground or having a collision because Anthony turned up at the door. Slightly embarrassing for Joan as she was in her pyjamas but before anyone comments they were Chinese pyjamas, the ones they even go shopping in! More like teddy bear costumes than something people actually wear to sleep in. The problem was, it turns out Anthony is her form head teacher! She felt uncomfortable, for me unnecessary, she is my great friend and helper, I doubt Anthony gave it a second thought as he knows we are friends, nor would he want to organise my Taobao shopping every month! He also wants to join my HMS Conway friends and family Yahoo group and once he does I am sure he will be discreet as to what I say.
Anyway he made a phone call to someone in IT and after a while restored my internet. Un-bloody-believably once again it was only the foreign teachers who hadn’t had internet restored. How many times has this happened? I was however extremely grateful for his assistance because considering everything was in Chinese (Google translate doesn’t work if you are not on the VPN and so you have to be online first) and it was a process neither Anthony nor I had seen before and I would still be offline.
On Saturday morning I awoke ill.
Ejecting matter from both top and bottom, the latter in quantity. I thought perhaps the transit time for the smoked salmon had been too long (I froze it the moment it arrived) and yet Joan never suffered any ill effects and she had twice what I did. There was no trip to town that day. I did venture out to the office and with my customary two bottles there were times where I felt I may have to run outside and vomit and others when I was concerned I might need a complete lower laundry change.
I felt awful.
On Saturday night Alice asked how my checking of her 5,000 word thesis was going. Well in fariness I had been busy but I confess I had completely forgotten about it. Feeling guilty and ill, nonetheless I said I would try to do it that night. Oh, she wanted to come. Ok after Dumpling has left when she has eaten.
Poor Dumpling never got to see a film because I had to edit the thesis (that would have earnt me 550y online but for students here it is gratis) and then Alice turned up with Cherry. They wanted a film! Zootopia to start with. Well that’s been removed due to copyright on the sites I use. Ok, Ex Machina (God they want to watch some weird stuff) which played for ten minutes and then stopped and said we have to register! In the end I taught them a lesson and showed them Alien.
Sunday I still felt drab (remember from Friday night I had eaten one bagel and Saturday not even a biscuit) but I went shopping. When I returned Joan was already taking a shower and was starving. Had she said before then I could have cooked one of the frozen supermarket pizzas in the freezer but instead she nicked four slices of toast and strawberry jam, took a twenty minute nap and then disappeared with indecent haste to go to the Boxue building to continue studying.
Me? I toasted a bagel (still unsure what caused my gastric problems even though two others reported no problems) and slapped pineapple jam on it. Hardly substantial but then I don’t eat much and I intend to have mash, ham, peas and Branston tomorrow and that will set me up for three days at least.
And so if there is not an email awaiting me when I wake up regarding a job interview it will be time for action. I know schools get desperate as time goes on but I would rather they did than me. The agency that everyone recommends is telling me my age is a problem and yet the same jobs are being advertised elsewhere and the school ads say “exceptions may be made”. Well I am an exception.
Thursday, 14 April 2016
Thursday 14th April, 2016 0130
Yep, late again but my classes don’t start until 1400 and anyway of late (and rather worryingly) I have been nodding off in my chair of an evening. No real fire hazard seeing as my cheroots go out within moments if they don’t get a puff occasionally and the floor is faux wood but the soporific episodes are damned annoying seeing as far as I know a tsetse fly has not been near me for at least thirty-five years.
Yesterday saw me angered with my classes. It was as if I had a room full of corpses. Christ, there is nothing worse than having Richard’s lot thundering around above my head, shrieking and laughing and his ex-students sitting and emulating the three wise monkeys. It says a lot when my best class this time around is a class composed entirely of 29 students who swapped from other majors to take English after their first term. As a teacher I wish I had a cattle prod to liven up the others who actually chose English in the first instance. Ok, it may be said that due to my impending departure perhaps I myself have lost a little impetus but that only goes as far as the fact that I am allowing thr classes to vote on activity v film. I am committed to remaining professional for the sake of the students even if my own prospects currently appear bleak. I am a survivor and an optimist. I WILL find a bloody job before long!
I made bangers, mash and beans for Dumpling and I last night. Crap sausages, annoyingly so seeing as the firm I used before sent half-decent fat ones but this time sent skinny and not very British ones, but Dumpling - believe it or not - declared the mash “yummy”. I have said this before but the reason the Chinese think English food is bland is not because they eat so much hot spice but because they don’t eat our food the way it should be eaten. Bangers, mash and beans with ketchup - a bit of everything on the fork and then down the hatch. Dumpling was just eating the mash and my entreaties for her to combine all the ingredients went unheeded. Nonetheless she enjoyed it.
Joan came for a shower and very kindly brought number seven on my shopping list, lime cordial. That means no doubt later today - I just knew it would happen - 25kg of cat stuff will arrive together. Idiot that I am, I invited her to come and have smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels on Friday night. I also have Dumpling coming for the same thing on Saturday! Good job I like them.
Funnily enough, after class this afternoon I saw Andrei and Juliette downstairs. Pissed off that their bike sticker number is 30 and mine is 324 even though I was before them but that’s besides the point. The nosey bastards had looked at the rubbish I left outside my door on Tuesday night and had spotted the empty smoked salmon pack. They are clearly both lovers of the stuff and demanded to know how much it cost. I told them I thought it was 88y a kilo and their eyes lit up. I was wrong, it was 85y plus delivery but I reckon half of the salmon in Norway will shortly be heading to the flat above me.
I am losing faith in what everyone assures me is a good employment agency and in whom I have placed my trust. So far I have had one offer which from the contract appeared to be for a prison and after refusing, nothing else. Kevin suggested Tongling University. They are not currently advertising but worth a shot. Close to here and I actually like Tongling. Whatever, hiring season is in full swing and the agency I pinned my hopes on are doing little so I really need to be more proactive. I need a bloody job.
Yep, late again but my classes don’t start until 1400 and anyway of late (and rather worryingly) I have been nodding off in my chair of an evening. No real fire hazard seeing as my cheroots go out within moments if they don’t get a puff occasionally and the floor is faux wood but the soporific episodes are damned annoying seeing as far as I know a tsetse fly has not been near me for at least thirty-five years.
Yesterday saw me angered with my classes. It was as if I had a room full of corpses. Christ, there is nothing worse than having Richard’s lot thundering around above my head, shrieking and laughing and his ex-students sitting and emulating the three wise monkeys. It says a lot when my best class this time around is a class composed entirely of 29 students who swapped from other majors to take English after their first term. As a teacher I wish I had a cattle prod to liven up the others who actually chose English in the first instance. Ok, it may be said that due to my impending departure perhaps I myself have lost a little impetus but that only goes as far as the fact that I am allowing thr classes to vote on activity v film. I am committed to remaining professional for the sake of the students even if my own prospects currently appear bleak. I am a survivor and an optimist. I WILL find a bloody job before long!
I made bangers, mash and beans for Dumpling and I last night. Crap sausages, annoyingly so seeing as the firm I used before sent half-decent fat ones but this time sent skinny and not very British ones, but Dumpling - believe it or not - declared the mash “yummy”. I have said this before but the reason the Chinese think English food is bland is not because they eat so much hot spice but because they don’t eat our food the way it should be eaten. Bangers, mash and beans with ketchup - a bit of everything on the fork and then down the hatch. Dumpling was just eating the mash and my entreaties for her to combine all the ingredients went unheeded. Nonetheless she enjoyed it.
Joan came for a shower and very kindly brought number seven on my shopping list, lime cordial. That means no doubt later today - I just knew it would happen - 25kg of cat stuff will arrive together. Idiot that I am, I invited her to come and have smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels on Friday night. I also have Dumpling coming for the same thing on Saturday! Good job I like them.
Funnily enough, after class this afternoon I saw Andrei and Juliette downstairs. Pissed off that their bike sticker number is 30 and mine is 324 even though I was before them but that’s besides the point. The nosey bastards had looked at the rubbish I left outside my door on Tuesday night and had spotted the empty smoked salmon pack. They are clearly both lovers of the stuff and demanded to know how much it cost. I told them I thought it was 88y a kilo and their eyes lit up. I was wrong, it was 85y plus delivery but I reckon half of the salmon in Norway will shortly be heading to the flat above me.
I am losing faith in what everyone assures me is a good employment agency and in whom I have placed my trust. So far I have had one offer which from the contract appeared to be for a prison and after refusing, nothing else. Kevin suggested Tongling University. They are not currently advertising but worth a shot. Close to here and I actually like Tongling. Whatever, hiring season is in full swing and the agency I pinned my hopes on are doing little so I really need to be more proactive. I need a bloody job.
Tuesday, 12 April 2016
Tuesday 12th April, 2016 1700
Not a good start to the day. When I checked my bank balance yet again the salary has not been paid on the expected date. Certainly it will be paid but it would be nice to have at least something constant, as it happens it doesn’t matter this month because now I am in saving mode I have something to back me up but psychologically I don’t want to touch it, instead I want to use current wages and save yet more from them this month. Thanks to Joan I don’t have to, she is happy to wait for what I owe for my online shopping. Speaking of which, two of the nine items I ordered have now arrived and are awaiting collection. I shall wait a little while to see if any more arrive before going to get them. I just hope the cat food and litter don’t arrive the same day - lugging a combined weight of 25kg up the stairs is not something I relish.
So I went to town shopping, having failed to withdraw any monies from the ATM. I had 150y in my wallet and I didn’t need much because tonight I will have a home made cheeseburger, tomorrow Dumpling and I will have bangers, mash and beans (using the old sausages rather than the ones I just ordered) and on Thursday I will polish off the last of the macaroni cheese. If necessary I could of course raid my coin jars tomorrow, there must be at least 300y in them by now even taking into account the fact I use 1y coins for the bus three or four trips a week.
When I got back I went to the office. I was the only one allowed in because they weren’t cooking food and of course all I wanted was my usual two bottles of pijou and to kill a few flies. The reason? A TV crew were filming in there. They tried to tell me it was CCTV (the state television) but as I saw no microphones or logos I have no idea if they were.
Whatever it was, I think it is the Chinese equivalent of Saturday Kitchen (except not live) and there was a celebrity chef strutting his stuff in the galley. God knows what will happen to the food once he has finished because there was acres of it. A whole duck, shoals of fish and a bucket quite literally full of “lobsters” - what the Chinese consider lobsters are more akin in size to Morecambe Bay bugs. Delicious admittedly but you expend more calories accessing the meat than you derive from it. He must have been a famous chef though because he was actually wearing a toque!
I have just put a bread pudding into the oven, which I will divide into thirty pieces and give one to each of the students in tomorrow morning’s class. The idea is to treat all four classes once over the coming month. It has nothing to do with currying favour, they can’t get me fired anyway seeing as I am already on notice but it’s relatively simple to make and will cost me about 40y per class. I forgot to grease the dish though before I put the mix in so wish me luck getting it out later!
Well, while I have been typing this four of my nine items have been reported as ready to get so I will pop down now and hope I can get everything on the bike in one journey.
Not a good start to the day. When I checked my bank balance yet again the salary has not been paid on the expected date. Certainly it will be paid but it would be nice to have at least something constant, as it happens it doesn’t matter this month because now I am in saving mode I have something to back me up but psychologically I don’t want to touch it, instead I want to use current wages and save yet more from them this month. Thanks to Joan I don’t have to, she is happy to wait for what I owe for my online shopping. Speaking of which, two of the nine items I ordered have now arrived and are awaiting collection. I shall wait a little while to see if any more arrive before going to get them. I just hope the cat food and litter don’t arrive the same day - lugging a combined weight of 25kg up the stairs is not something I relish.
So I went to town shopping, having failed to withdraw any monies from the ATM. I had 150y in my wallet and I didn’t need much because tonight I will have a home made cheeseburger, tomorrow Dumpling and I will have bangers, mash and beans (using the old sausages rather than the ones I just ordered) and on Thursday I will polish off the last of the macaroni cheese. If necessary I could of course raid my coin jars tomorrow, there must be at least 300y in them by now even taking into account the fact I use 1y coins for the bus three or four trips a week.
When I got back I went to the office. I was the only one allowed in because they weren’t cooking food and of course all I wanted was my usual two bottles of pijou and to kill a few flies. The reason? A TV crew were filming in there. They tried to tell me it was CCTV (the state television) but as I saw no microphones or logos I have no idea if they were.
Whatever it was, I think it is the Chinese equivalent of Saturday Kitchen (except not live) and there was a celebrity chef strutting his stuff in the galley. God knows what will happen to the food once he has finished because there was acres of it. A whole duck, shoals of fish and a bucket quite literally full of “lobsters” - what the Chinese consider lobsters are more akin in size to Morecambe Bay bugs. Delicious admittedly but you expend more calories accessing the meat than you derive from it. He must have been a famous chef though because he was actually wearing a toque!
I have just put a bread pudding into the oven, which I will divide into thirty pieces and give one to each of the students in tomorrow morning’s class. The idea is to treat all four classes once over the coming month. It has nothing to do with currying favour, they can’t get me fired anyway seeing as I am already on notice but it’s relatively simple to make and will cost me about 40y per class. I forgot to grease the dish though before I put the mix in so wish me luck getting it out later!
Well, while I have been typing this four of my nine items have been reported as ready to get so I will pop down now and hope I can get everything on the bike in one journey.
Monday, 11 April 2016
Monday 11th April, 2016 0325
Yes, another late one but considering my only class today starts at 1600 who gives a hoot
The weekend was pretty tame, I didn’t even go shopping on Saturday but I did cook two trays of macaroni cheese in the evening. I seem to be feeding Dumpling every time she cleans (costing as much again as I pay her!) but here when you find someone who likes to experiment with western food and just happens to be attractive then in my case I like to cook. The second tray went to Richard, Andrei and Juliette. No idea if they enjoyed it and I couldn’t care less if they didn’t because Dumpling and I did! My only regret was that I never had any of the really strong cheddar RT Mart used to do and which would have given it more of a cheesy boot up the backside. Instead I used an entire pack of Edam with some Anchor cheddar on top. I had it again seven hours ago for my dinner and there’s enough for another serving in the freezer.
My shopping bill on Taobao was very pleasantly surprising, Joan texted me last night with the bill - 530y. Whilst I shouldn’t really be splurging like this given my situation, I still have to eat and egg fried rice and chow mien every night are not the way I want to live. I do make dishes from local ingredients that don’t cost fortunes and of course I use imported herbs and spices but occasionally I weaken, as with the pork sausages. I justify it by reminding myself that bangers, mash and beans in Shanghai for one costs 160y and I can do it for about 50y. In fact if Dumpling wants. I will be using the last of my old sausages (not good, thick skins and skinny sausages and from an online shop that previously supplied juicy fat ones) to make use of before the arrival of the Wall’s.
Anyway, bless her cotton socks (which are currently atop my washing machine having dried out after being washed Saturday night) Joan used her own money to pay for my shopping. As I am in saving mode I did tell her not order it before my payday but she did so anyway and I love her for that. The thing she may find stupid is that I have more than enough to pay for it but psychologically it needs to come out of April’s salary and what I saved last month is sacrosanct.
Today I did do a quick shopping trip - well “quick” is two hours or so, given it’s at least an hour round trip on the bus and more if like me you want to guarantee a seat. I shall have ham, egg and chips tomorrow - no way did I make so much ham at great expense only to end up not using it.
I am - and you may find this incredible given the fact that finding another job is my number one priority - currently wracking my brains for a third communal game for this coming Friday’s English Corner. I have two but I need one that involves a lot of people and it has to be one I haven’t already used this year. I’ve done eggs, balloons, oranges, apples - you name it. Quite why I am giving a student activity preference over my own future career, I can’t answer but it’s not the students who want me gone, now is it?
Anthony came this evening. He had a credit card statement for Kevin (or Cavin as he put it!) and of course we chatted. He commented on how every time he visited I offered him a beer, wine, brandy or whatever I have and I said it was simply hospitality. It reminded me of a Chief Officer whose cabin I went to once having never met him before (ex submarine commander in WW2) who, with enormous plums in his mouth said, dreadfully sorry but all I can offer you is dry sherry. The sherry was great as it happens and he was left with none by the time I departed!
Anyway Anthony will doubtless soon be reading this blog as he will join one of my Yahoo groups on pain of death if he reveals the content to the school leadership. If I am going to be sacked I would rather it be on good terms and not before the end of the contract!
Anyway his advice was that if I got an offer of another job I should take it. Oddly enough that’s precisely my plan. I just need a decent offer and not one that puts me in the same position as a prisoner.
Yes, another late one but considering my only class today starts at 1600 who gives a hoot
The weekend was pretty tame, I didn’t even go shopping on Saturday but I did cook two trays of macaroni cheese in the evening. I seem to be feeding Dumpling every time she cleans (costing as much again as I pay her!) but here when you find someone who likes to experiment with western food and just happens to be attractive then in my case I like to cook. The second tray went to Richard, Andrei and Juliette. No idea if they enjoyed it and I couldn’t care less if they didn’t because Dumpling and I did! My only regret was that I never had any of the really strong cheddar RT Mart used to do and which would have given it more of a cheesy boot up the backside. Instead I used an entire pack of Edam with some Anchor cheddar on top. I had it again seven hours ago for my dinner and there’s enough for another serving in the freezer.
My shopping bill on Taobao was very pleasantly surprising, Joan texted me last night with the bill - 530y. Whilst I shouldn’t really be splurging like this given my situation, I still have to eat and egg fried rice and chow mien every night are not the way I want to live. I do make dishes from local ingredients that don’t cost fortunes and of course I use imported herbs and spices but occasionally I weaken, as with the pork sausages. I justify it by reminding myself that bangers, mash and beans in Shanghai for one costs 160y and I can do it for about 50y. In fact if Dumpling wants. I will be using the last of my old sausages (not good, thick skins and skinny sausages and from an online shop that previously supplied juicy fat ones) to make use of before the arrival of the Wall’s.
Anyway, bless her cotton socks (which are currently atop my washing machine having dried out after being washed Saturday night) Joan used her own money to pay for my shopping. As I am in saving mode I did tell her not order it before my payday but she did so anyway and I love her for that. The thing she may find stupid is that I have more than enough to pay for it but psychologically it needs to come out of April’s salary and what I saved last month is sacrosanct.
Today I did do a quick shopping trip - well “quick” is two hours or so, given it’s at least an hour round trip on the bus and more if like me you want to guarantee a seat. I shall have ham, egg and chips tomorrow - no way did I make so much ham at great expense only to end up not using it.
I am - and you may find this incredible given the fact that finding another job is my number one priority - currently wracking my brains for a third communal game for this coming Friday’s English Corner. I have two but I need one that involves a lot of people and it has to be one I haven’t already used this year. I’ve done eggs, balloons, oranges, apples - you name it. Quite why I am giving a student activity preference over my own future career, I can’t answer but it’s not the students who want me gone, now is it?
Anthony came this evening. He had a credit card statement for Kevin (or Cavin as he put it!) and of course we chatted. He commented on how every time he visited I offered him a beer, wine, brandy or whatever I have and I said it was simply hospitality. It reminded me of a Chief Officer whose cabin I went to once having never met him before (ex submarine commander in WW2) who, with enormous plums in his mouth said, dreadfully sorry but all I can offer you is dry sherry. The sherry was great as it happens and he was left with none by the time I departed!
Anyway Anthony will doubtless soon be reading this blog as he will join one of my Yahoo groups on pain of death if he reveals the content to the school leadership. If I am going to be sacked I would rather it be on good terms and not before the end of the contract!
Anyway his advice was that if I got an offer of another job I should take it. Oddly enough that’s precisely my plan. I just need a decent offer and not one that puts me in the same position as a prisoner.
Friday, 8 April 2016
Friday 8th April, 2016 1630
Yes it has been a few days but to be honest the intervening period between entries has been mostly routine.
In the absence of Joan (who will be done and dusted with her exams imminently thank God) I have found another fan of my cooking, Dumpling. On Wednesday I made a salad. I expected it to be a lovely day so it seemed appropriate but the reality was it hissed down all day, flooding all the level grasslands on campus and many of the roads, which naturally were laid with no thought whatsoever given to drainage after rains. Few drains come to think of it. I was trapped in “The Office” for a while before I came home as I waited for it to die down a bit and what with the thunder and lightning I prayed the power wouldn’t be switched off. It wasn’t.
But I had promised because she wanted her favourite potatoes - boiled and with salad cream atop and so of course she got them. I even made a load of ham in only 5 days (normally I cure for at least a week and sometimes two) but it turned out perfectly. Bloody hell she can put it away! I made far in excess of what I expected to need (spuds are cheap after all) and yet she packed in three times as much as me! There were two pieces of potato left at the end and all she left on her plate was the pickled beetroot which is alien to Chinese and she clearly didn’t like. Tomorrow night I am making macaroni cheese (the cheddar is going mouldy so I need to trim it and use it - and don’t tell me I shouldn‘t because I have been doing it all my adult life without problem!- for her - Joan was invited but she must study - and I will use an entire pack of pasta just to make sure there’s enough. How these kids stay so slim is beyond me, really.
In an hour I shall go to yet another English Corner, I am pretty sure it is the penultimate one for me here (ultima being next Friday) and the little darlings only informed me about this evening in class yesterday! Well it was fine because I had no arrangements but of course they think I am a bottomless pit of games. The problem is I have to dream up/remember games so I have different ones each year and for each class in case some of them have seen them at a previous Corner. I have three for this evening involving a blindfold, Chinese Whispers and two oranges but that leaves me now scratching my head for new ones next week!
The recruitment agency has come up with no suggestions since I turned down the prison camp offer in China’s most polluted city so over the weekend they will be getting an email from me expressing my displeasure and I shall also start widening my search and registering with other agencies. Not the way I like to operate, I prefer to be a loyal customer but if they can’t fix me up then I am not sitting here finding myself at the eleventh hour putting my trust in them alone.
Last month I was very restrained when it came to online food shopping, due to Joan’s mis-ordering of cat litter and food quantities I got by without ordering a thing. Therefore this month I am going bananas.
Provided the tally comes in at under 700y (200y of which will be cat necessities I cannot avoid) I will be buying Branston, lime cordial (I have yet to see squash in any Chinese supermarket, don’t ask me why), a new snuff box for when I travel and can’t smoke (lost the last one), smoked salmon, cream cheese and bagels and manna from heaven - Wall’s pork bangers from England!
During my time here I have ordered “British type” sausages which have been ok (admittedly encased in rhino hide) but they weren’t REAL bangers. Neither are Wall’s it has to be said (I much prefer Tesco Finest pork and Granny Smith) but take me back fifty years and I am in my grandma’s kitchen waiting for my breakfast or a sausage sandwich. Bloody expensive though - £7 a pound! I can only hope they haven’t changed in the last half a century. I did find a form of fish finger but decided not to order although I may do later depending on the bill.
After this month though I shall have to confine myself to only ordering the vitals and concentrate on using up as much of what I already have as possible. And I have actually amassed quite a bit by way of ingredients, some of which I will probably leave to Andrei and Juliette but most of which I will probably try and take with me wherever I go - if indeed it is still in China.
It looks as if the warm weather is back to stay now. Today the bus said it was 27C and the forecast is set firm for the mid twenties. I hope so.
Oh and lately the bathroom has stunk to high heaven. The last time Dumpling cleaned so did my bedroom. The reason? Lottie pissing on the bathroom floor. It gets into the sponge on the mop and of course is then shared everywhere even when it has been rinsed and squeezed. She is the one thing I most definitely won’t miss. Dumpling will have a new mop head when she comes to clean tomorrow. And then people wonder why the cats are banned from my bedroom. Well, except occasionally for Tigger, the only bad thing he does is pester me for a fuss when I am nodding off. The other three would destroy my laptop and anything else whilst Lottie would soil my bed. The hell of it is, when I start trying to let them make The Great Escape I reckon she will be the only one not to.
Yes it has been a few days but to be honest the intervening period between entries has been mostly routine.
In the absence of Joan (who will be done and dusted with her exams imminently thank God) I have found another fan of my cooking, Dumpling. On Wednesday I made a salad. I expected it to be a lovely day so it seemed appropriate but the reality was it hissed down all day, flooding all the level grasslands on campus and many of the roads, which naturally were laid with no thought whatsoever given to drainage after rains. Few drains come to think of it. I was trapped in “The Office” for a while before I came home as I waited for it to die down a bit and what with the thunder and lightning I prayed the power wouldn’t be switched off. It wasn’t.
But I had promised because she wanted her favourite potatoes - boiled and with salad cream atop and so of course she got them. I even made a load of ham in only 5 days (normally I cure for at least a week and sometimes two) but it turned out perfectly. Bloody hell she can put it away! I made far in excess of what I expected to need (spuds are cheap after all) and yet she packed in three times as much as me! There were two pieces of potato left at the end and all she left on her plate was the pickled beetroot which is alien to Chinese and she clearly didn’t like. Tomorrow night I am making macaroni cheese (the cheddar is going mouldy so I need to trim it and use it - and don’t tell me I shouldn‘t because I have been doing it all my adult life without problem!- for her - Joan was invited but she must study - and I will use an entire pack of pasta just to make sure there’s enough. How these kids stay so slim is beyond me, really.
In an hour I shall go to yet another English Corner, I am pretty sure it is the penultimate one for me here (ultima being next Friday) and the little darlings only informed me about this evening in class yesterday! Well it was fine because I had no arrangements but of course they think I am a bottomless pit of games. The problem is I have to dream up/remember games so I have different ones each year and for each class in case some of them have seen them at a previous Corner. I have three for this evening involving a blindfold, Chinese Whispers and two oranges but that leaves me now scratching my head for new ones next week!
The recruitment agency has come up with no suggestions since I turned down the prison camp offer in China’s most polluted city so over the weekend they will be getting an email from me expressing my displeasure and I shall also start widening my search and registering with other agencies. Not the way I like to operate, I prefer to be a loyal customer but if they can’t fix me up then I am not sitting here finding myself at the eleventh hour putting my trust in them alone.
Last month I was very restrained when it came to online food shopping, due to Joan’s mis-ordering of cat litter and food quantities I got by without ordering a thing. Therefore this month I am going bananas.
Provided the tally comes in at under 700y (200y of which will be cat necessities I cannot avoid) I will be buying Branston, lime cordial (I have yet to see squash in any Chinese supermarket, don’t ask me why), a new snuff box for when I travel and can’t smoke (lost the last one), smoked salmon, cream cheese and bagels and manna from heaven - Wall’s pork bangers from England!
During my time here I have ordered “British type” sausages which have been ok (admittedly encased in rhino hide) but they weren’t REAL bangers. Neither are Wall’s it has to be said (I much prefer Tesco Finest pork and Granny Smith) but take me back fifty years and I am in my grandma’s kitchen waiting for my breakfast or a sausage sandwich. Bloody expensive though - £7 a pound! I can only hope they haven’t changed in the last half a century. I did find a form of fish finger but decided not to order although I may do later depending on the bill.
After this month though I shall have to confine myself to only ordering the vitals and concentrate on using up as much of what I already have as possible. And I have actually amassed quite a bit by way of ingredients, some of which I will probably leave to Andrei and Juliette but most of which I will probably try and take with me wherever I go - if indeed it is still in China.
It looks as if the warm weather is back to stay now. Today the bus said it was 27C and the forecast is set firm for the mid twenties. I hope so.
Oh and lately the bathroom has stunk to high heaven. The last time Dumpling cleaned so did my bedroom. The reason? Lottie pissing on the bathroom floor. It gets into the sponge on the mop and of course is then shared everywhere even when it has been rinsed and squeezed. She is the one thing I most definitely won’t miss. Dumpling will have a new mop head when she comes to clean tomorrow. And then people wonder why the cats are banned from my bedroom. Well, except occasionally for Tigger, the only bad thing he does is pester me for a fuss when I am nodding off. The other three would destroy my laptop and anything else whilst Lottie would soil my bed. The hell of it is, when I start trying to let them make The Great Escape I reckon she will be the only one not to.
Monday, 4 April 2016
Monday 4th April, 2016 0200
Saturday night Kevin collected me, we went to get Vivi after she finished her teaching, ditto Joan en route to the restaurant. Due to Vivi we ended up in a private room rather than upstairs with the proletariat where I wanted to be but then Chinese women like to appear subservient whilst nevertheless getting their own way.
I had to laugh when apparently the reception staff asked if I had booked. How the hell can I book when none of us speaks a common language and anyway I wasn’t sure of the location itself?
However we spent a very pleasant couple of hours in our secluded room, I was happy as two of the dishes the girls ordered I could eat (that’s a result, believe me!) and they were sweet pork and spring rolls - the latter much less rolls and much more samosa-like in appearance, for they were triangles.
Not often I get an evening like that any more and no offence to the other laoweis here but they are neither my age nor nationality and I suspect they feel much the same way about me. And let’s not forget Kevin and I locked horns and fenced for five years here - the only difference is that now we don’t have the furious arguments because we are not in constant contact! I really enjoyed the night, plus I stuck a fan heater in his car for him to take back to Huangshan to fix for me before he visits again.
Yesterday we arranged to meet at RT Mart and then go to Yumeics bakery for a pizza for lunch. Not the one opposite the supermarket but further north. We shopped and I lost 1y because he had parked underneath even the basement and there was nowhere to redeem my coin from the shopping trolley and so off we went, intending to have pizza and coffee.
After he parked and we got out I remarked that I wondered what was inside the “Amazing Brewery” nearby. In the past I have commented and he opined that it was probably a clothes shop or anything other than a brewery. This time I said come on, I have to satisfy my curiosity, let’s take a walk. It’s a sports bar! From the sounds we heard there are pool or snooker tables up on the floor above and they sell imported drinks. There are large vats of draught beer up above, although whether they actually brew on the premises (somehow I doubt it) is a mystery.
They do serve food so I suggested we have a beer and at least thumb through the menu. Doubtful they do everything listed but they did have pizza. Yumeics was history! Overtopped though they were, the pizzas were half decent and lo and behold, who should come in but the chap who owns the western bar about fifty yards away. It turns out he owns that place as well. I am glad I suggested taking a gander because I will certainly go there again, maybe one evening with Joan or Dumpling. Not cheap so definitely not a regular thing but a nice change.
On Saturday night after dinner I told Kevin Joan and I would get a taxi back to save any inconvenience. It was raining and no taxis appeared. At Kevin’s insistence we got in his car and I asked him to drop us somewhere better populated by cabs. Instead he drove us all the way home which was most kind and saved me 30y. It was amusing to see when we pulled in to west gate a veritable sea of e-bikes and mopeds parked up just outside because they have no permits. A much smaller sea of them outside the south gate yesterday though, presumably as that’s a longer walk from the dormitories.
I have to say that on Friday when I rode back onto campus the guards were being particularly vigilant (being the first day of the passes) and being Chinese they suffer from poor eyesight. I pointed to my sticker and shouted that yes, I did have one! I got huge grins and thumbs up all round and to be honest I doubt they would have stopped me, just reported me to the school to get me to obtain a sticker. Bloody stupid really - if I have an accident I don’t need identification for my bike, all they have to say it was the fat foreign teacher and that narrows it down to…………..me.
Saturday night Kevin collected me, we went to get Vivi after she finished her teaching, ditto Joan en route to the restaurant. Due to Vivi we ended up in a private room rather than upstairs with the proletariat where I wanted to be but then Chinese women like to appear subservient whilst nevertheless getting their own way.
I had to laugh when apparently the reception staff asked if I had booked. How the hell can I book when none of us speaks a common language and anyway I wasn’t sure of the location itself?
However we spent a very pleasant couple of hours in our secluded room, I was happy as two of the dishes the girls ordered I could eat (that’s a result, believe me!) and they were sweet pork and spring rolls - the latter much less rolls and much more samosa-like in appearance, for they were triangles.
Not often I get an evening like that any more and no offence to the other laoweis here but they are neither my age nor nationality and I suspect they feel much the same way about me. And let’s not forget Kevin and I locked horns and fenced for five years here - the only difference is that now we don’t have the furious arguments because we are not in constant contact! I really enjoyed the night, plus I stuck a fan heater in his car for him to take back to Huangshan to fix for me before he visits again.
Yesterday we arranged to meet at RT Mart and then go to Yumeics bakery for a pizza for lunch. Not the one opposite the supermarket but further north. We shopped and I lost 1y because he had parked underneath even the basement and there was nowhere to redeem my coin from the shopping trolley and so off we went, intending to have pizza and coffee.
After he parked and we got out I remarked that I wondered what was inside the “Amazing Brewery” nearby. In the past I have commented and he opined that it was probably a clothes shop or anything other than a brewery. This time I said come on, I have to satisfy my curiosity, let’s take a walk. It’s a sports bar! From the sounds we heard there are pool or snooker tables up on the floor above and they sell imported drinks. There are large vats of draught beer up above, although whether they actually brew on the premises (somehow I doubt it) is a mystery.
They do serve food so I suggested we have a beer and at least thumb through the menu. Doubtful they do everything listed but they did have pizza. Yumeics was history! Overtopped though they were, the pizzas were half decent and lo and behold, who should come in but the chap who owns the western bar about fifty yards away. It turns out he owns that place as well. I am glad I suggested taking a gander because I will certainly go there again, maybe one evening with Joan or Dumpling. Not cheap so definitely not a regular thing but a nice change.
On Saturday night after dinner I told Kevin Joan and I would get a taxi back to save any inconvenience. It was raining and no taxis appeared. At Kevin’s insistence we got in his car and I asked him to drop us somewhere better populated by cabs. Instead he drove us all the way home which was most kind and saved me 30y. It was amusing to see when we pulled in to west gate a veritable sea of e-bikes and mopeds parked up just outside because they have no permits. A much smaller sea of them outside the south gate yesterday though, presumably as that’s a longer walk from the dormitories.
I have to say that on Friday when I rode back onto campus the guards were being particularly vigilant (being the first day of the passes) and being Chinese they suffer from poor eyesight. I pointed to my sticker and shouted that yes, I did have one! I got huge grins and thumbs up all round and to be honest I doubt they would have stopped me, just reported me to the school to get me to obtain a sticker. Bloody stupid really - if I have an accident I don’t need identification for my bike, all they have to say it was the fat foreign teacher and that narrows it down to…………..me.
Friday, 1 April 2016
April Fool’s Day, 2016 0230
Well I do have a five day break now, although I do want to be up and on the move before midday in order to check to see if any of Kevin’s mail is in the department before they close for lunch because I will be going shopping afterwards and it would be nice to beat the hordes of students taking the bus who will be bunking off and going home early for Qing Ming.
I had a fair few students missing from my last class this afternoon so I asked them if they wanted a lesson or just a film. This is the class I see twice a week anyway. No prizes for guessing the result of the vote. Showed them “my” video which they thought hilarious and then tried to show them an episode of Wild China. It wouldn’t play no matter what I did and I couldn’t understand it because it did last term. Ok, try something else and my 64Gb memory stick was plugged in and immediately the computer shut down!
Oh this is just terrific. Is it me? Thankfully I had backup and they watched one of the Ice Age films but how the hell does a USB stick that’s 6 months old suddenly go wrong? It did though and tonight I had to reformat it and over the weekend will have to reload all the films that I had on it. It took forever.
Kevin is coming back tonight so we will meet for dinner tomorrow, Joan is indeed free, and I am praying I can find the restaurant I am thinking of again. It’s behind No 1 hospital and I’ve been there twice so fingers crossed. Hahaha! Joan asked if we could be finished by nine? I think she forgot it wasn’t just going to be the two of us so I sent her a message to say that I couldn’t impose limits on Kevin and Vivi. We probably will be finished by then anyway but I can’t promise what I don’t know I can deliver. This obsession with study is a cancer. Time and again I have seen my students studying the entire day and for what? After an hour your brain says piss off, I’ve had enough. They need to take a break, go for a walk, lunch, dinner, whatever and then go back to study for another hour. Ten hours in a library does not imbue them with ten hours of what they have been studying any more than sitting in a classroom listening to me drivel on for that length of time does.
1600
Christ I am tired. No reason, I never got up until ten and then I needn’t have because there was no mail for Kevin anyway - or anyone else for that matter. Being a lazy git I wasn’t going to park miles away from the foreign language department to check the mail, so I got off the bike, powered it up the kerb and got back on and rode it right to the building. Had I taken a run-up I reckon I could have stayed on the bike!
As I suspected there were legions of students waiting for the bus, toting suitcases and not just from our school but also the nurses one opposite. Straight to the terminus on the bike to guarantee a seat. We are now in silly season with regard to the weather. Today was shirtsleeves even for riding the bike, doubtless tomorrow I will need a jacket. When I finish this I will take a nap and will probably use the a/c to cool the room, tomorrow doubtless I will need to heat the place. The forecast also says this weekend we will get a soaking - not much different to Britain seeing as it always rains on bank holidays! Last year at Qing Ming I went to Wuhu if you recall and my beautiful view of the Yangtse from the 24th floor of the Hilton was permanently obscured by deluges!
I did a small shop in town but while I was there I bought a decent portion of pork. I haven’t made ham in a few months (it’s been so long that my Instacure has gone from pink to dirty white!) but I need some ready for next Wednesday. Dumpling told me her favourite out of all the ways I utilise potatoes is when I cut them up with cream. Translate that and you get boiled spuds with salad and Heinz salad cream! Ok fine, she will next clean on Wednesday so I have instructed her to be prepared to clean and then stay for a film, during which we shall have a salad. Ham would be nice.
Plus of course I need to use up as much of what I have amassed by way of imported ingredients before I leave for wherever - they are hideously expensive (especially the cure at 238y a pound) - although I will take some ingredients with me. When I first came to China it was all novel and I ate things that I wouldn’t now, so knowing the ropes and how to make and eat the things I do like, I would like to try and hit the ground running.
My illness has almost done a bunk I am glad to say, although I do have a residual tiredness which miraculously disappears just after midnight. Siesta time now and for the next four days it doesn’t matter what time I stay in bed till!
Well I do have a five day break now, although I do want to be up and on the move before midday in order to check to see if any of Kevin’s mail is in the department before they close for lunch because I will be going shopping afterwards and it would be nice to beat the hordes of students taking the bus who will be bunking off and going home early for Qing Ming.
I had a fair few students missing from my last class this afternoon so I asked them if they wanted a lesson or just a film. This is the class I see twice a week anyway. No prizes for guessing the result of the vote. Showed them “my” video which they thought hilarious and then tried to show them an episode of Wild China. It wouldn’t play no matter what I did and I couldn’t understand it because it did last term. Ok, try something else and my 64Gb memory stick was plugged in and immediately the computer shut down!
Oh this is just terrific. Is it me? Thankfully I had backup and they watched one of the Ice Age films but how the hell does a USB stick that’s 6 months old suddenly go wrong? It did though and tonight I had to reformat it and over the weekend will have to reload all the films that I had on it. It took forever.
Kevin is coming back tonight so we will meet for dinner tomorrow, Joan is indeed free, and I am praying I can find the restaurant I am thinking of again. It’s behind No 1 hospital and I’ve been there twice so fingers crossed. Hahaha! Joan asked if we could be finished by nine? I think she forgot it wasn’t just going to be the two of us so I sent her a message to say that I couldn’t impose limits on Kevin and Vivi. We probably will be finished by then anyway but I can’t promise what I don’t know I can deliver. This obsession with study is a cancer. Time and again I have seen my students studying the entire day and for what? After an hour your brain says piss off, I’ve had enough. They need to take a break, go for a walk, lunch, dinner, whatever and then go back to study for another hour. Ten hours in a library does not imbue them with ten hours of what they have been studying any more than sitting in a classroom listening to me drivel on for that length of time does.
1600
Christ I am tired. No reason, I never got up until ten and then I needn’t have because there was no mail for Kevin anyway - or anyone else for that matter. Being a lazy git I wasn’t going to park miles away from the foreign language department to check the mail, so I got off the bike, powered it up the kerb and got back on and rode it right to the building. Had I taken a run-up I reckon I could have stayed on the bike!
As I suspected there were legions of students waiting for the bus, toting suitcases and not just from our school but also the nurses one opposite. Straight to the terminus on the bike to guarantee a seat. We are now in silly season with regard to the weather. Today was shirtsleeves even for riding the bike, doubtless tomorrow I will need a jacket. When I finish this I will take a nap and will probably use the a/c to cool the room, tomorrow doubtless I will need to heat the place. The forecast also says this weekend we will get a soaking - not much different to Britain seeing as it always rains on bank holidays! Last year at Qing Ming I went to Wuhu if you recall and my beautiful view of the Yangtse from the 24th floor of the Hilton was permanently obscured by deluges!
I did a small shop in town but while I was there I bought a decent portion of pork. I haven’t made ham in a few months (it’s been so long that my Instacure has gone from pink to dirty white!) but I need some ready for next Wednesday. Dumpling told me her favourite out of all the ways I utilise potatoes is when I cut them up with cream. Translate that and you get boiled spuds with salad and Heinz salad cream! Ok fine, she will next clean on Wednesday so I have instructed her to be prepared to clean and then stay for a film, during which we shall have a salad. Ham would be nice.
Plus of course I need to use up as much of what I have amassed by way of imported ingredients before I leave for wherever - they are hideously expensive (especially the cure at 238y a pound) - although I will take some ingredients with me. When I first came to China it was all novel and I ate things that I wouldn’t now, so knowing the ropes and how to make and eat the things I do like, I would like to try and hit the ground running.
My illness has almost done a bunk I am glad to say, although I do have a residual tiredness which miraculously disappears just after midnight. Siesta time now and for the next four days it doesn’t matter what time I stay in bed till!