Monday 29th August, 2016                       1300

Well I found jing jo in just one small shop. They only had small bottles which was a pain and indicated they couldn’t get the half litre size. Same price near enough buying four little ones but you don’t half clink when you walk home with them! I found cigars too but once I know my way around I simplyhave to find cheaper ones. They are nice but at 30y for 5 they will bankrupt me and I have found it impossible to locate cheap ones online.

All the little cafes outside either don’t have beer or if they do they don’t have cold ones. I stopped in one for my dinner and paid 12y for some noodles (noodles are more the staple in northern China rather than rice) with, it has to said, three tiny morsels of meat and loads of peppers, onions and their weird alien black mushrooms etc. Far too much for me of course but it was certainly tasty. The problem is, is that it has shifted not only itself but also everything I ate in Hong Kong!

When I finally got off the throne I showered and dressed eventually by noon, ready to go out into the chilled air for yet more bits and bobs. As I was preparing to leave the phone went and I received a barrage of calls from Brenda, Harriett and Janet. The first works in the international dept, Harriett is a teacher who does extras and Janet it would seem will be my helper here. A form was brought for me to sign for them to get the foreign expert certificate, Brenda asked about any problems with the apartment so I have listed them and Janet wants to come and visit me tomorrow afternoon. She has also offered to take me to a big supermarket on Wednesday so bedding and the like can wait for then.

I now know that I won’t start teaching until next week. I think what I will be handling is a new innovation for them, postgraduates who probably need to bone up on English before they attempt their MAs. This week they are putting together a curriculum, hence my life of leisure for now.

It rained in the night, nothing heavy but with it pinging off the caging outside the bedroom window it woke me up. It also brought the temperature down to a ridiculous 18C - in August! I am starting to regret not at least bringing a jumper - seeing as I flew first class I had a 40kg allowance but I never dreamt it would start to get cold before Anthony had chance to send on my boxes.

The repair man won’t be coming until tomorrow or Wednesday (I will live) but as I am only going shopping for a few items I have decided to limit it to one foray today. All this walking after months of either inactivity or using the bike mean that my legs are getting the stuffing knocked out of them. I am rather hoping it becomes easier with time!

Harriett threw in that she had heard I would be moving flats. That’s news to me and so I said if I was then why were they making arrangements to rectify at least some of my complaints? If I AM to move then I sincerely hope it will be to the east campus where as far as I know I will be teaching. That would save hideous commuting times.

Oh yes, two things. Apparently I am teaching in the Kindergarten training school. Apologies if I have already mentioned it. My first comment when I learnt that was “What??” I mean can you imagine me teaching rugrats? From what I gather the students I will have ultimately want to go on to be kindergarten teachers. I hope not all of them have a screw loose.

The other thing is, I checked out the Chizhou website out of nosiness (while my password still works) on Friday. I wanted to see if they had found a second English teacher. If they have then it is the damnedest coincidence that they found a replacement with my name and spelt the right way! More likely, they still only have Daniel and are currently showing me as having four classes with eight lessons a week. If they end up going into this semester with untaught classes I can only say it serves them right for dumping Kevin and me. Pity, five hours work a week would have been wonderful.