Wednesday 26^th September, 2018 1000

I turned in early on Sunday and duly roused early on Monday. Monday of course was a “bank holiday” (no such thing in China, they are open all year) and feeling rather pleased with myself because I could go shopping and cook that pie without rushing, I made a mug of coffee and sat down to read about what was happening in the world.

I was somewhat startled when, at 0730, a body appeared outside my study window. Lo and behold if it wasn't one of the workmen! On a national holiday at that unearthly hour! Damned good job I was up and about because if he had woken me I would have had a fit.

But it did mean he should be finished early and I could still fulfill my plans.

Half a dozen skinny tiles, the removal of the plastic membrane protecting the new panels and a shedload of mastic he managed to splatter all over the place later(the toilet looked like it had been self-harming for decades), he left. Job done.

After clearing up as best I could I showered and went to brave the holiday shoppers in the supermarket. On my return and immediately I offloaded my bags from the taxi, yet another of the workmen (who had clearly been awaiting my return) accosted me with a barrage of Mandarin. What now?? I indicated to him that everything was finished and he was not required but he signed that I should wait and he would return. I was baffled but I needed to unpack the groceries before popping to see Mr Jing Jo.

The next thing I knew the workmen dragged his fifteen year old son and a mid-forties male neighbour of his into my home. Ahh! He wanted his son to practise his English! Well I have never refused anyone that and so we spent five uncomfortable minutes running the gamut of “nice to meet you”, “where are you come from?” etc before a very relieved young lad was able to take his leave.

They did have plums in BHG and I had bought 25y worth for my pie. I had also bought a lemon to juice for a bit of tartness and was staggered to find it cost me a pound for ONE.

Yesterday's meal was ok, can't really go wrong with a Ruby, the cheats' paratha merely needed heating in a pan and the only thing I hadn't a clue about was the bhajia mix. The end results were so-so for most (although not unpleasant, despite my having used far too much onion) but Stephanie liked them so much she took the leftovers home. I will make them again, however next time I need to find a method of slicing the onions more thinly. For anyone tempted to have a bash, they are surprisingly simple to make, getting them perfect is the goal.

Today is the day my passport and new residence permit are ready for collection – on production of a 400y fee. Peace Corps get theirs free as they are volunteers, I have to pay and reclaim from the school, that can take months.

With the Xining trip looming next Wednesday, I was getting twitchy over my bank balance. I have repaid a sizeable loan from my sister and was regretting perhaps leaving myself short.

Hotels in China almost always demand a deposit on top of the room fee, this is fine if you possess a credit card as they simply pre-authorise the amount and re-credit the balance on departure. I don't have a credit card so need to use cash. They are bound to ask for 1,000y on top of the room and that's no problem because I can sign for drinks at the bar and suchlike and they simply deduct it from my refund when I leave. However as I am paying for dinner on Thursday night in the Brazilian restaurant in the hotel (expensive) and I am unsure whether it is affiliated to the hotel or merely an independent franchise, the thought of an embarrassingly large bill I need cash for was worrying.

I was saved by a chance remark. Brenda is taking Eli to get his passport on Friday! She can withdraw the 400y before she goes so I asked her if she would collect mine for me – those souvenirs I brought back for her were worth every penny!

And the picture quiz? I tried it on my dinner guests last night and after the odd hint they got nine correct. I think I will be happy if my students can get five!

Sunday 23^rd September, 2018 1900

The REAL Sunday! Had a senior moment when I labelled yesterday's wrongly – of course it was in fact Saturday. I blame the workmen for disrupting me. And senility.......

So today it was, as hereinbefore stated, important to go and find allopurinol.

First I decided to go and get my watch fixed underground in Peili Square. The 10 had fallen off the face. Previously the 11 did likewise so I am hoping it's not working its way backwards around the dial. The guy on the stall is cheap and quick at taking the unit apart and gluing the little metal pieces back. That and a new grommet to replace the existing one which had perished (the watch is after all 20+ years old) set me back 15y.

Then I left to go to the usual chemist in case they had some pills in stock now. Two of the serving staff were walking across the square, recognised me as a regular (and foreigner) and so I showed them my empty bottle. Mayo. Ok, plan B was that big place I had seen on Friday. A fair walk for me these days but if I didn't do something pretty soon I wouldn't be getting out of bed, let alone walking.

Incredibly this large shop also said mayo. Frustrated, I tried to ask where in this damned city I could find a common medicine I had been taking for 33 years without aggravation (8 of them in China) because in a couple of days or so I was in big trouble. I was given general directions to a Watsons. Surely a western chain would have it? Nope. The boss sent me off in another direction to somewhere his body language conveyed would surely have it. I hoped so, from the waist down I was on fire. Mayo.

This was no longer remotely funny. Anyone reading this who suffers from gout will know the agony of an attack and I was fast approaching the cliff edge. I gave up after the fifth pharmacy and made my way to somewhere for some fried chicken, despondent. This now meant that tomorrow I had to play my last card – the place I used once near China Tobacco, a two hour round trip.

Shoulders slumped, I made my way slowly homewards but decided to actually call in to the normal chemist and scour the shelves myself and if unsuccessful, create a stir so that they would get some sent over for the next day or at the very least give me an address to show a taxi driver.

I had just walked miles for nothing. They had it! I nearly exploded but the two I saw earlier had left for the day. Sodding expensive at 104y for 30 days (slow release capsules) when the normal pills are a third of the price but what the hell, I was safe for another month and the crisis was over. I now have a month to explore possibilities and enlist my network in finding cost-effective medicine. I guess I average about 300y a month for all my medicl needs which in western countries may seem a paltry amount but here it is a decent sized percentage of my salary – for a Peace Corps slave it would be over 20% of their allowance! I do not need that figure inflating by a further third and the last thing I would ever do is buy drugs over the internet.

So tomorrow if I wish I can go to the supermarket. I may chance it. I would also like to try and rustle up Tuesday's dessert in advance. I am rather limited on options and apples often feature, however if plums are still around I may make a plum pie for the first time. My reason for wanting to get dessert out of the way is because I shall make a curry and I want to try my hand at making onion bhajias. Never tried before but then I never tried to do an awful lot of things (never needed to!) before coming to China.

Sunday 23^rd September, 2018 1030

The threatened call from Brenda has yet to materialise, however I'm reasonably sure I know what it should have been about.

Yesterday while I was mustering the effort to shower, following which I was going out in search of my now exhausted drugs (I had spied a large chemist from the school bus on Friday evening within hobbling distance), at 1230 there was an annoyingly insistent rapping on my door. It could only mean one thing.

You guessed it, the workmen who should have turned up earlier in the week were here. Thinking that all they would do would be to put the old panels back using glue or tacks, I let them in. They lugged in all kinds of equipment – sanders, fret saw, compressor etc – took measurements and then cluttered off for lunch. I assumed they would be back after 1430. “They” turned out to be one chap, who brought with him a couple of thick boards. It was obvious he was going to completely replace the stackpipe casing. This wasn't going to be a thirty minute affair and I hadn't showered yet.

In the end he left at 1930, by which time I had cooked and eaten my dinner and abandoned any hope of going out shopping. He made a desultory attempt at clearing up but still left rubble and detritus which I now need to clean up, the loo is only flushing slowly and someone needs to come back to refit the tiles he took off! Why, oh why, could they not have done the panelling first and the tiles afterwards???

So now I need to go medicine shopping today but I will leave it a while and grab some food while I am out, saving the hassle of cooking later. I can but hope there will not be hordes of people doing likewise, given that it is a national holiday for mid-autumn.

I have spent the last hour preparing an activity for next week's classes. I was on the lazy side last term, relying heavily on showing films because standing all day hurts too much. I had to come up with something I could do whilst seated and not having to keep getting up to use the blackboard and they would find difficult/impossible to cheat at.

I have saved 16 photographs of famous people when they were young and will give them a couple of minutes on each before moving on to the next. The answers will be given once complete and team papers will be given to another team to mark. Sounds easy? Au contraire. Many “famous” people to we in the west are utterly unknown to the Chinese and a lot of so-called famous people nowadays I haven't heard of myself! Sifting through hundreds of pictures to try and get a mix of easyish, difficult and downright stinkers that they should know or at least will know once they have the answers is not as simple as it at first appears. I have among them Taylor Swift (who even knowing it's her I still can't see it) and an absolute bounder of one of Mao which maybe they will surprise me with.

And I get to sit at the computer to work the slideshow!

Thursday 20^th September, 2018 1200

A bit of a mixed bag this time.

Tuesday's meal went well, in particular I had decided as you know to produce crackling. I am not sure if I am imagining it but Chinese pigs seem to be thicker-skinned than the ones in the UK. My Mum's crackling was always thin and crispy, mine on Tuesday was like rhinoceros hide but crackling nonetheless.

I of course couldn't even attempt it unless I wanted to suck it into submission, however at one point I could hardly hear anything over the four sets of CRUNCH!! CRUNCH! going on at the table. I am pretty sure they liked it.

Yesterday yet again the workmen were supposed to arrive at 0900 and yet again I never saw them. Last night the foreigners were treated to a meal at the hotel behind my flat in celebration of mid-autumn festival. The first time the school has taken any of us out for dinner, although I had put that down to the anti corruption campaign started by Xi whilst I was still in Chizhou.

The beer was somewhat scarce and as for wine or baijiu, forget it. The reason given being a somewhat implausible explanation that should someone expire from over-drinking the funeral costs would need to borne by the others at the table. My solution was to suggest simply dragging the corpse from the room and saying they croaked it before they even arrived. Nordine seemed highly disappointed with the paucity of alcohol, even more miffed when I showed him surreptitiously that I had anticipated just such a situation and was packing my extra large hip flask of jing!

Earlier today I went for breakfast at Pizza Hut and once I had eaten, Brenda called. I couldn't hear her well (I think she had the phone badly lodged betwixt shoulder and neck) and so she hung up and said she would call later. Doubtless when she does it will be to impart some bad news, whenever foreign affairs call you it is not good. And I gave her her souvenirs last night too.

And the allopurinol saga continues. With only enough left to last until Saturday morning things are becoming critical, by my guesstimate if it isn't rectified I should get my first attack of gout in goodness knows how many years just in time to prevent my being able to work next Thursday and Friday.

So on the way to and from Pizza Hut, armed with an empty pill bottle as n example, I scouted for chemists. There are none. You may feel I am an idiot of some proportion when you remember there is a large modern complex next to campus called a hospital? Why did I not simply go there in the first place?

From memory buying drugs there involves going up a couple of floors, asking for medicines, obtaining a chit, going back downstairs and then queueing to pay for them before returning upstairs to wait in line to actually get the pills. Fine if you are as fit as a jackrabbit but after a round trip for breakfast my speed had dropped to just below dead slow ahead.

I had to bite the bullet though, this was becoming seriously worrying and although I am used to cigar droughts my requirement was what is after all an extremely common medicine, the Chinese do get gout! Mayo. In a bloody hospital?? If I can't get it there then where on earth can I? I found two small pharmacies within the locality and the reply was the same. I find it unbelievable. And worrying.

On top of that I still have the call from Brenda to look forward to, no doubt that will whistle through my existence like a force ten gale......

Monday 17^th September, 2018 1800

After wasting my Saturday morning by them only coming after a complaint was lodged (although I was pleased with the tiling work) they managed to ruin my Sunday morning as well when they were supposed to come and do the panelling. I had no plans admittedly but I couldn't take a shower or do my laundry in the interim so now I am annoyed. Oddly, Brenda has gone silent, something I understand at the weekend but today is Monday and no contact. There will be words, not so much for the work not being complete but far more importantly in my book, for making arrangements and not abiding by them.

Today I did my shop. Tomorrow I will make a traditional roast pork with apple sauce, hopefully crackling (not easy with a mini oven) and Yorkshire pudding, along with half my remaining Bisto. Accordingly, as the Chinese have no conception of roast pork, I drew a sketch of what I wanted.

I know, it seems ludicrous but I felt it was needed – a picture (I am neither Rembrandt nor Constable but my pictures are more understandable than Dali or Picasso) – so I drew a pork loin with the fat scored. Job done? I thought so.

However, despite miming what I wanted the woman on the meat counter proceeded to commence slicing the entire loin into pork steaklets. I stopped her, gave up and went to another section, asked for some pork and a cleaver. I demonstrated that I simply wanted the skin and fat scored. What I got was the skin and fat sliced as far as the meat, way too deep but hopefully it will still make crackling. I even called over the stupid woman to see what it was I wanted so maybe she will know next time. I would have done it myself but they get their knives so much sharper than I can.

Oh, and Mr Jing Jo found my new bald look somewhat amusing. I on the other hand am rather getting used to it.

After an explanatory email to Dean Liu on Peili campus (as promised to Annie and Eli because they seem to think I have far more influence – which admittedly I do) followed by a second explanatory one to explain the first explanatory one (this is China!) I finally got the message across that should the school or students organise anything for Christmas evening the westerners would be saying “no” and so not to do it. I want to get a smoked ham and Christmas pudding and prepare a traditional meal, the first fully English Christmas dinner in eight years and anyone standing in the way is finished!

As for the Xining trip, I'm sceptical. I had intended to go this weekend but Annie had made arrangements. Fine, Alice could still come as well as Stephanie. Except now suddenly Stephanie can't come but can do in golden week. Poor Alice can't, she is off to Wuwei with her sister and has always said so. I am dubious about the other two who have manoeuvred me into delaying the trip to when they both can come. I wanted to treat Alice as well. Perhaps I can take her somewhere another time. I am not that bothered on my own account, I am hardly the tourist type, I simply wanted company for a dinner I don't actually have to cook.

The Sebel/Sofitel in Xining has a highly rated Brasilian restaurant (breakfast is great too) and I have said I will fund one dinner and the others can pay for a pizza delivery the other night.

And finally I have five days before I am in danger of having an attack of gout. As unbelievable as it sounds, no less than three chemists have told me they have no allopurinol! I reckon I will have to pop into the hospital next to east campus on Thursday unless they want to give me time off because I can't get out of bed......

Saturday 15^th September, 2018 1630

Good Lord, I didn't realise it had been almost a week since my last post.

It has though been both a busy week and not a particularly happy one, sad to say. You know when you don't feel too great? Nothing serious, just a “yuk” kind of feeling? Well I've had that until today, added to yet another tooth abscess which although still swollen I have now subjugated the pain from and in fact today haven't needed any painkillers.

I went to school for teachers day. It was as I feared equally as dire as last year's bongo drum activity but what the hell. There was Chinese chanting (at my age I can repeat once and instantly forget so repetitions tend to be miming) and we all had to do the catwalk.

The main activity struck me with terror. Terror because without doubt I was going to have to refuse to participate. Bless them, whether due to my bulk or hopefully my age and mobility problem, they excused me anyway. It was four people standing on a piece of paper for ten seconds. Then the paper was folded in half and the exercise repeated. And again, and again. Our team actually won after a suggestion from me that the strongest girl put the lightest on her shoulders to make extra room. Age and degeneration certainly hit home when I realised that three decades ago I could have comfortably had a girl on my shoulders and lifted one on each arm, meaning only two feet needed to be on the paper. The reality is our strength fails with age and at that time merely walking was still a painful activity for me.

However, I did get a rather twee gift, a step up from last year's umbrella (but which will never be used by me!) - a little case with a three-serving Chinese teaset. Now remember Janet cajoled me into giving up my free time to attend? Guess who wasn't there? Yep. Janet. Later she complained her set was missing the serving board because she was late! I texted back to say she wasn't late, she was absent and it served her right!

On Tuesday we had our meal of macaroni au gratin followed by apple crumble and custard. I met Eli for the first time, a slightly younger version of Darriush. A very astute young man it has to be said, who very quickly sussed that I like nothing better than to be controversial to engender debate. I just wish it worked as well as that in my classes.

He suffers from Mortuusequusphobia, which for the unenlightened is a phobia or dislike of tomatoes. When I make macaroni I put breadcrumbs and sliced tomatoes on top. He removed his immediately. I have had to tell Annie that whilst he is more than welcome to come to our dinners I will not subject everyone else to a tomato-sterile diet. I mean come on, bolognese, chilli, curry etc – try and think of dishes I can cook here with the facilities available and half of them would be off the menu! Apparently he is quite happy to come and not eat. I probably speak for nearly everyone when I say I would not be happy. He's lucky, next week I thought I might do a roast pork, we haven't had that for a while.

Thursday had me doing the hypochondriac thing (we all do it, don't we!) and searching the internet because still the stroll to Pizza Hut for my breakfast was agony, muscular not skeletal. Many results obtained gave me a few months left to live at best so I did what I am good at, ignored the fact anything was wrong.

My second week of classes went a little better than expected, there were some who actually spoke in class and to me rather than their neighbours. Admittedly I did my best to shrug off the mobility issues a little and roam the classroom on occasion. If I can keep up my end then this term may well be moderately successful.

Today the workmen were supposed to come to put my bathroom tiles and panelling back at 0900. Eventually (this is China) I emailed Brenda. Not that I had anything pressing to do but I didn't want to shower and make the place wet before they came. At 1130 they turned up and actually made a good job of the tiles, even going off to buy a new one to replace the one they broke months ago. The panelling was obviously the remit of another team, for allegedly I need to get up early tomorrow to await their ministrations. At least then just maybe all the weird creepy-crawlies that currently have free access to my home may be impeded in their quest to annoy me.

Today I went out to buy some new speakers for my laptop. The “old” ones (6 months) had a volume control problem so I thought I'd get them and have a sweet pork now the restaurant has re-opened. Got new speakers then went for dinner. Except the sweet pork place has gone! No pictures of what food they do, different people. Damn. Cancelled that idea and seeing as my barber seems also to have shut up shop and done a bunk, I decided to try the barbers in the square.

They were empty so I was served immediately. What did I want? The usual, a quarter of an inch all over. The girl showed me an attachment for a number three and I said “ee” (one). At that, she decided the clippers alone were what she needed. Well, within seconds I knew I had done something dreadful. I think my haircut took all of three minutes (I was out of the door within five) and I am pretty sure the next closest haircut I could have had would be shaven.

Yep, with my white hair I now look completely bald. But do you know what? I'm going back there again! I like it! The old seafaring expression that the only difference between a good haircut and a bad one is a fortnight is going to be put to the test. And the saving on shampoo???

Oh, and my jaunt today? I may not have been a whippet but for the first time in months it was pain free. It will not be long before I am back to moaning about arthritis again. I never thought I would say I would be happy to be in that situation!

Sunday 9^th September, 2018 1040

Yesterday was the 45^th anniversary of my joining the MV “Cape Horn”, my first ship as crew rather than passenger. I still remember it well.

So, first week of term is over and I have met my new students. As per usual here, the classes are far too large, each one boasting between 43 and 49 students. Also as per usual, they were keen for the first lesson, almost certainly due to the novelty value of having a foreign teacher. Despite their initial enthusiasm, the signs were there that once again I shall struggle to get any of them to talk once we get the course proper under weigh.

I am however hoping that in a few weeks (after mid-autumn festival) that the parts of me below the waist will be functioning more robustly than at present, in which case I intend to engage them in activities, the problem being inventing ones they cannot use their phones to surreptitiously cheat at!

My timetable was exactly as feared, all day Friday and and all day Thursday but with the 4½ hour lunchbreak on the latter. Actually, I'm not complaining, the weekly breakfast at Pizza Hut is a bit of a treat, after all. I confess that the walk there and back damned near crippled me but it proved the problem now is atrophy from three months of disuse of muscles, for whilst I still limp, it improves daily.

Thursday being my first day back at work (albeit not the school's) I gave Janet and the Dean their souvenirs (nothing wrong with a bit of bribery to try and remain in a job!) and Janet reminded me that tomorrow is teachers day. She hoped I would attend the teachers' activity in the afternoon. The fact it is one of my days off never entered into it, that I had already arranged a western meal for tomorrow evening did. I said I was cooking and left it at that but then felt oddly guilty.

Some time later Janet texted to say the Dean really wanted me to go. I said I'd reconsider and let her know. I was then told all teachers would receive a gift/prize. To this I responded that it was of no consequence, if I went it would not be for a gift but because the school always includes me in everything and I like to consider myself part of the team, always a foreigner but hopefully not an outsider. The dinner is now postponed until Tuesday.

I went last year but couldn't attend until my classes finished, thank heavens, for when I got there we all had to play bongo drums to make a rhythm! Possibly that could be something I might enjoy after a gallon ofpijou but not at the end of a day's teaching! For that I was given an umbrella which I have needed twice in the year since. Maybe this year it will be a pack-a-mac!

I will finish on a grumble though. Yesterday was payday. Well, insofar as the 8^th is the normal day we are paid (since I have been here it has been early once and late once) though the contract merely says we will be paid on time each month without a specific date being mentioned, so any time within the month, I was rather hoping to be paid on Friday instead of having to wait until tomorrow. We weren't.

Normally it wouldn't be a problem but foreign teachers are not paid for August (you can bet your shirt the Chinese ones are!) and we have just come back from holidays and are skint. Of all the months to pay before the weekend rather than after, this was it.

Tuesday 4^th September, 2018 1500

Yesterday I shopped. As you know I avoid weekends due to the crowds. It is also the start of the new term. I was completely unprepared for the hordes of freshmen that clogged up BHG, all wandering around with large plastic bowls, filling them with laundry soap, toothpaste, tissues and the like. I was of the impression they all had to be in school for the Sunday but even today students continue to arrive.

Having singularly failed to source cigars, I asked Mr Jing Jo if he could search the web and get me some. He found 700 and I said terrific. Half an hour later while I was washing dishes, he came past my window on his bicycle and knocked on the door. The only thing I was sure of was that he had now found 1600 of them, did I want them? Yes!

After he left I wondered A) would I get them before or after payday – very important and B) was it a total of 1600 or was it plus the 700? 2300 yuan is a sizeable amount to fork out immediately after bankrupting myself on holiday. However, given the frequent paucity of supply here, I felt it prudent to accept as many as possible just in case.

As last night was a reunion of the four musketeers (and also UK Merchant Navy Day) I rather pushed the boat out with smoked salmon and melon, sausage rolls and a bottle of bubbly. Annie brought rose cakes for dessert, I've not tried mine yet but I am sceptical as to whether I will like it or not. In between mouthfuls, Stephanie was fretting over her NFL fantasy American football team. Unlike the UK versions wherein you select your players and submit, there were more “rounds” involved than in a WBA world heavyweight title defence, one round for each player position. Apparently her team bombed last season so her pride is at enormous risk this time. I think I'll stick to not getting involved.

This morning Annie and I (she has no classes until next week, having the freshmen this year and they are doing military training) had to go to the police station to lodge passports and paperwork for permit renewals. My situation was the more urgent, for unless submitted by then, at midnight on Thursday I would have become an illegal. The difference here (and between Brenda and Miss Yin in Chizhou) was that instead of being a last minute panic because someone wasn't doing their job, this was planned for and anticipated. It couldn't sensibly have been done before as I needed my passport for the holidays. I am now “safe” and can collect my passport on the 26^th. In the meantime if I want to take a train all I have to do is argue like hell at the ticket office that my work permit/ID card is valid to travel on domestically.

So we came back, had lunch and then I went to the jing jo shop to find 700 cigars on the counter waiting for me! Christ that was quick! It appears there are indeed another 1600 en route and whilst I can pay him tomorrow when I go to the cashpoint for this lot, I have had to try to explain that I can't pay for the second tranche until payday. This falls on Saturday so I am hoping they pay us a day early on Friday rather than leaving it until Monday. Otherwise I am up a creek. I somehow think though that he will be quite happy to let me take them away on trust, after all, he sees me every day.

Oh, and we will have five for dinner on Monday (if I've been paid), the new Peace Corps slave is reportedly so “pumped up” to meet me after Annie and Steph told him all about me. Eli (God they have weird and wonderful names these Septics) is from Baltimore and at 22 is fresh out of the college cardboard box.

It may be that summer has now departed Lanzhou, the highest temperature forecast for the foreseeable is 20C, most days the high is supposed to be 17C. And just to make life a little more difficult, the sweet pork place is curtained off being refurbished yet again and inexplicably my barbers shop has been shuttered up for days. Hopefully the latter is due to a late summer holiday.

Saturday 1^st September, 2018 1300

Not entirely unexpectedly I wasted three hours travelling to China Tobacco only to come away empty handed. Yesterday I went to the Baian shopping centre where I obtained some baked beans, real peas (not the faux peas that are really beans you normally get) and – a miracle – they actually had cheese. Only two blocks mind, one mild and and one strong cheddar. They now have none.

We are having a mini rainy season here right now, maybe five days of “English” rain by the time it is over. My pain management is working, no more rib-interrupted nights but rather than bones it is now muscles! Somehow I think that is due to spending months sitting on my fat backside because I couldn't walk though. Hopefully once I get back to work it will improve.

Janet texted me last night with just the two words – Thursday, Friday. I knew she meant I would teach those days this term but hell, I need a little more than that! You know, number of classes, which classroom(s), times etc! I was hoping for a half day Thursday and full day Friday but seeing as she said to take my laptop on Thursday I suspect it's two full days but with the 4.5 hour lunch break Thursday. Not too bad, I can get my weekly breakfast at Pizza Hut!

Kevin went water skiing yesterday while taking Vivi back to Hefei. The only minor problem was that he was driving his car.

There was heavy rain and he aquaplaned, spun out and smashed beam-on to the armco barrier, leaving the car worse for wear and now more like a motorbike because two wheels were ripped off. Most importantly neither of them were hurt although by all accounts Vivi couldn't stop crying for hours. Kevin was convinced it was a write-off but the insurance company are confident they can get it repaired. Bit awkward though, they had to take the bus to complete the journey and after an overnight stay he is now on another bus to get back to Huangshan. Couldn't take a train as he has no ID - it was all handed in to the school for permit renewals. He never thought to photocopy his passport of course because he never expected to be taking public transport.

Anna has been texting me today as well, initially to wish me happy teachers day (which is in fact the 10^th) but now telling me she will come and visit me next year. You may recall she is in barracks not far from here but liberty is highly restricted, she can't even email me any photos of her new life.