Vaping in China? Well i'm here now so changed the title!

[Deleted]

Great to hear from you again digicig. Is the whole not paying you and then asking you to extend your contract part of their negotiation techniques


Nick

[digicig]

Weird way of getting me to extend @kopiert

Would've been at the Shenzhen Expo - with some new juice and Shinies - and spent more than i should've - so perhaps it's the Chinese way to encourage me to save. 180RMB in me wallet (£18) until payday - which is easily enough for a weeks food and alcohol - but expecting 16000 to arrive forthwith!

Will probably sign on for next year - as i have bought certain 'creature comforts' which i won't need to replace or worry about storing - but look early for a new gig for September 2017! Have negotiated a slight pay raise at least - and improved air con and a few bits like a working kitchen fan and proper curtains

[Bobsbeer]

Are you sure you got the translation right digicig and got a pay cut not a raise.

[digicig]

Bobsbeer The contract does state - that it's fine to be paid up to a month late - bless them!

Only an extra 500rmb a month (£50ish so far ) - but that's an extra £500 a year which isn't too bad - if i can notch that up to £1k a year i'll probably think about a third year too

[digicig]

WooHoo! 2 months pay arrived in me Chinese bank account today

Things that make life distinctly more comfortable - and for a swift order of a Cuboid mini kit form Taobao (so arrive in a week) and some Notch coils for it and me Cubis from FT - via Ireland and me Ma - so a month+

Have around 750ml of juice made up at around 1mg - which should keep me going until i get around to buying some more French Organic VG etc - and hopefully me 100ml of 24mg tobacco juice arrives from FT via me Ma - of course (Bless her nylon pop-socks LoL).

[digicig]

First week back and some students insisted on bringing food round, cooking (and washing up and basically cleaning me flat - bless them!) followed by a trek up 'The Mountain' - kind of the local big hill LoL - and a visit to the local Buddhist Monastery



Finally got a English speaking colleague - Bob the Canadian. A tad less extroverted than I methinks LoL



Bit of a theme of 'Going up the Mountain' - with a different set of students





The lass on the right had been one of the quiet ones in class - but suddenly found her tongue on this trek



It was a hot day, and half of the students were required to miss the 2nd half of my lesson - so took the rest for Ice Cream - 7 ice creams for 18RMB - so £2 - Bargain! (can get a nice 'choccy' covered 'lolly' for 1RMB = 10p - we went to the 'Parlour' as a special treat )





And this evening was invited by a Moroccan 'intern' at one of the poshest local hotels to eat and help provide a more 'Western atmosphere' for some German business guest - along with some other Foreign Devils in Xianning - Bob, the Canadian, Vitali, from the Ukrane (here teaching German) , Larissa and Monica from Armenia (teaching English at the Experimental International High School).
Still have no real idea what exactly we were there for - so went window shopping etc to amuse ourselves whilst we were waiting





Cute idea - neck cushion ting, with a hood to cover your eyes whilst taking a kip





That's you pretty much up to date

[Deleted]

Well it looks like your having a good time !!!! please keep us updated as and when you can, as i love reading and seeing your posts.

[thebishman]

Apr 18, 2016 17:15:20 GMT @broadblaster said:

Well it looks like your having a good time !!!! please keep us updated as and when you can, as i love reading and seeing your posts.

Was about to write exactly the same thing!

[gill2009]

  Bob less extrovert than you digicig?...do you think so 

[lynwlt]

I think Bob might be scared....

[Deleted]

I think Bob needs to be your biggest project, digicig, as that broom handle looks uncomfortable, the poor thing.

[gill2009]

Apr 18, 2016 21:13:24 GMT jess said:

I think Bob needs to be your biggest project, digicig , as that broom handle looks uncomfortable, the poor thing.

                                                        

[chykensa]

Great post as usual digicig, love the photos. Poor old Bob the Canadian, I fear that name might stick, and he does look distinctly uncomfortable in all the photos. See if you can get him to at least smile for the next set of pics!

Your students are very lucky having a teacher who takes them for ice creams when it's hot. They look like they are enjoying themselves anyway

[digicig]

Thanks chykensa - kinda cheating but what the hell - I get roughly £13.50 an hour - so spending £2 on Ice Cream - doing some English along the way - for the students who actually want to learn English - seems a reasonable (and affordable ) reward scheme. Also kinda playing the psychology game - i have a sneaking suspicion that fewer students will skive off for the next couple of weeks - just in case!

Bob's only 29, and i think this is his first 'real' experience of being outside of Canada - so he seems to be in 'observer' mode - which i kinda get. But he's also a Political Science grad - and looking to save enough to do post grad in it too - bless him
He's serious about learning the language too - where as i'm happy playing charades instead - much more fun LoL

[digicig]

The spy who loved me? Chinese warned off dating foreigners!

(CNN)China's government workers are being warned off dating handsome foreigners -- because they may be potential James Bonds.

A 16-panel comic book-style poster that's been widely displayed across Beijing tells the story of an attractive young female civil servant -- Xiao Li or Little Li -- who is wooed by a red-haired foreigner posing as a visiting scholar.
The scholar, named Dawei or David, showers her with compliments, red roses, fancy dinners and romantic walks in the park, and convinces the girl to provide him with internal documents from her government propaganda workplace.
Xiao Li initially declines to hand over the documents but David manages to convince her. Xiao Li is later taken away by security officials and the girl finds out that her boyfriend was a foreign spy.

This to coincide with a new Beijing Security Campaign
Now i've been 'jokingly' asked if i'm a foreign spy - just cos i happen to know something about Chinese history, Taoism, and practice some Chi Kung (QI Gong). Many people (not just students) i've met are quite surprised and intrigued that i seem to know more about Chi (Qi) and TCM then they do - China i general, has moved more towards the 'Western Medical/pharmaceutical model of medicine. Even a medical student i met was fascinated by hearing about the PH thing (Almost all viruses etc. and cancer cells, find it very difficult, if not impossible to survive in a more Alkaline system).

So i am suspicious because i have more 'knowledge' about China than i 'should' have