Recent Posts

I think 'Game On!' - would be the appropriate expression! Interesting 12 minutes - one way or t'other

Ah well - maybe i won't need to stay up so late then

Aloha Raffles

It's been the kind of season where anything can happen - and why not bet a pint on it - depending where thee live that would be £3-5 - if thee lose it's no huge loss, but if thee win that's a round at Vapefest LoL

I'm actually tempted to stay up for it - being only 7 hours ahead now that the clocks have done forward in the UK - i might get to bed before 6 and don't have a class until 3.50 tomorrow afternoon

Some more pics from Guangzhou

One of my favourite things to have seen in China - walked past a 'homeless' looking dude using this to charge his phone the night before



- couldn't really believe it so went back the next day for a piccie - a freely available charging point for phones etc - with an added 'seat' and toilet paper

7 Banyans Temple







Sure Buddha would've approved of the soft drink product placement LoL



More of Guangzhou







Not the most PC meal - but when in Canton (and someone else is kindly ordering ) - i tend to the "Thems that ask no questions, isn't told no lies" approach to eating - i didn't realise the quite delicious soup in the little white bowls was actually turtle The rest is pretty much squid, seashell with garlic, tofu kinda of thing



A temple in Nansha - the outskirts of Guangzhou







The 'ornaments' or gargoyles at the top of the pagoda type bit

Aloha One and All

Posts kinda stopped as i had a brief 'Holiday Romance' - and she didn't have internet as she was in the process of moving apartments. Gentlemanly conduct will prevail as to the details - but she's a Chinese professional lady, a couple of years younger than me living in Guangzhou - and purely coincidently we first met on Valentine's Day

Holiday (and therefore faster internet) ended - back to Xianning and the new semester - so the boring bit of lesson planning and actually teaching - with the odd interruptions of water and electrickery.

The weather has been decidedly variable too - and it must be said that the Thunderstorms here are particularly impressive - "The God's are more than just a tad miffed' kind of volume - with whip cracking, ear splitting lightning, to go with the deep earth-growling thunder. Then there's a lull so decide to go to bed - and an hour before the alarms due to go off - the Sharp Crack of another Lightning storm IS going to make sure you're awake LoL And when it does rain - it's the torrential "makes Ireland look like it's a bit apathetic in comparison' type rain - and can keep it up for 36 hours - just to prove the point! So by the time i thought i should try and capture the experience of course - the feckin ting goes and calms down (a little anyway ). so whilst nowhere near as impressive as the thing itself - The Quantum Measurement Effect in Action - once a measurement device is in place it changes the nature of what is being measured - here's a snippet - more for the sound then owt else (it was dark!) LoL



Curiously, the toddler who lives downstairs, and by the sound and persistence of her crying is going through teething - managed to sleep soundly through the storm - for once! Owing to having been able to arrange the majority of my classes for the afternoons - this is an annoyance, but something i can just shift me sleep pattern to accommodate - i just sleep after she's finally quietened down - usually by 2 or 3am. With no classes to get up in the morning for (aside from a 10am class on Wednesday - Nay Bother!)

The Chinese internet - at least on campus - seems to work along the lines of British sport - rain stops play! It'll be fine for a few hours, and then will go down until a magical guy 'waves his wand of dryness' - and suddenly it's inexplicably working once more!

Then the good days are pretty frequent and awesome -especially for March/April - currently around 25 - which is shorts, Tshirt and barefoot weather for me - and me Chinese students are even starting to leave their winter wool coats in their dorms

I also have a new Native English speaking colleague - Rob - who's from Canada - bless him! Could be worse, at least he's not American, so does spell most things correctly He's only 29, seems quite quite, a gamer and ex dread wearer - so i'm sure we'll get along.

Got 'permission' to tell my classes - "If you really don't want to learn English - then don't come to class! It will be easier for me to actually teach fewer students who want to learn, and much better for them - than try and keep 30+ on task who don't want to be here!"

Well - an interesting experiment - and most of my students do still come! The one class i refer to as "The Naughty Girls" - trainee Kindergarten teachers or teachers assistants - went from 30ish down to 2-3 - but the progress from those 2 has been quite remarkable! Going from "I can't speak English!" to actually being able to construct, pronounce and self-correct their own statements!

The college has begun badgering me to extend me contract for another year - which is bizarrely tempting. Whilst Xianning really doesn't have too much going for it itself - it does have the metropolis of Wuhan (10million+ population and almost a 2nd tier city) 25 minutes away on the fast train, as well as being 4.5 hours on said train away from both ShenZhen and Shanghai. It would also be interesting to see the progression of my 1st year students, to see if what i'm doing actually works. Plus, i can teach barefoot. which might be frowned upon in a different or 'better' college, i only teach 10.5 hours a week, and they have no problem with me finding my own extra work elsewhere - which a lot of places do. Having a CELTA with 2 years experience is when it comes into it's own - so staying for another year here, before adventuring elsewhere might be good.

On the downside, i'm not really teaching English as such - Oral English is more about getting them to speak. I haven't really learned more about teaching grammar etc because the students haven't been able to, or seen the necessity of English - at best they have a modicum of interest with only a handful of my 200ish students really motivated to learn.

So decisions, decisions!

Never was one to get up early calnorth - had the choice of getting up for 6.30 6 days a week to do a paper round in sun, rain or snow for at most £3 a week, or just pootling round the local golf course, and diving through hedges, climbing down cliffs, and dangling over mine shafts to collect golf balls for a tenner for 100! No contest really (and yes i was a junior member so was entitled to be there too!)

This happily kept me in Texan's, Curly Whirly's, Mojo's, Black Jacks and sherbert Dipdabs - and my dentist in employment