Blogs from Wuhan, Hubei, China, Asia
May 17th 2012
The Chinese are hyperchondriacs. There, I said it. I thought I was bad, but these lot take it to a whole new level. Students pass comment on everything I do, "Cold water is bad for your stomach" "Warm water is bad for your stomach" "Milk has too many additives" etc etc. They never shut up about their bloody health. You have to pay for healthcare in China, nothing is free like the good ol NHS. The most Communist country in the world and they don't have free Healthcare, nuts. And they are also incredibly tight, everything is 'sooooo expensive' so those two fears added together, "I might get ill, and it's gonna cost me" So they are forever convinced that they are at death's door. So you may think that the Chinese take their safety as ... read more
May 4th 2012
There are 4 million channels on the TV here, and as with the UK, most of them are severe pants. Soap Opera's seem to be the most popular. Sometimes I watch the Chinese equivilant of EastEnders and listen to them scream insults (or compliments, I'm none the wiser) at each other for giggles. They have one show which is like China's Funniest Home Videos, which is sort of like You've Been Framed but with much more violent, and I assume fatal accidents being shown along with a laughter track which makes me feel slightly uncomfortable. Uncomfortable in that I laugh too. At 22:00 local time, FINALLY something I can watch. The awesomeness that is Mr Bean comes on on the Kids channel. Oh how I laugh while sat in my flat in my boxers tucking into ... read more
May 2nd 2012
The students seem really interested in British Culture, but don't know much about it, which makes for good fun. I had to do a lesson on the English Civil War and my memory is patchy, I remembered Thomas Cromwell and Charles I, but then I started embelishing a little. Their faces when I mentioned Stormtroopers and the Death Star...classic. They've seen all my photos from home. A few from the office Christmas party of Emily got them interested in her blonde hair. I told them all she was my ex but she left me for another woman. They all agreed the TOTALLY saw that in her eyes. :D... read more
May 1st 2012
Innit! So I've got a job and an apartment in Wuhan now. I work for an English Language school for mostly (thank God) adults, who actually want to be there. They love my take on the English language, and am proud to say several people in the city now know the words 'Hangover' and 'Kebab' It's very different here. For example, they call Chinese Supermarkets simply Supermarkets, which confused me no end. But not as much as KFC selling crab cakes, I swear I nearly fainted. McDonalds tastes the same, but a hell of a lot cheaper, and most of the staff there have Masters degrees, so calculating change is rarely an issue. I'm writing this in a French bar just around the corner from my flat, all the foreigners are french here (Citroen and Peugeot ... read more
March 17th 2012
The weekend before last Helen and I had our wedding banquet. The planning time was less that two weeks as just after we got our marriage certificate we decided it would be a good idea to have the banquet soon. Wedding banquets in China are seen as the offical anouncement of a couple's marriage and although a wedding ceremony is an optional event, the banquet is seen as most important. So getting our marriage certificate on february 14th, we decided on the banquet that day and made the location booking. The banquet hall was a restautrant Kang Long Restaurant. We booked two small rooms, one for Helen's Mom's side and the other for her father's side of the divorced family. Then we booked a bigger room to hold both Helen and my friends. A total of ... read more
December 30th 2011
WooHoo!! 3 Day Weekend. For New Years I am going to a little pice of nowhere called Xinning ( pronouced sha na ing, I think :)) Anywho what is so great about this place you ask? well let me tell you.... It is a natural hotspring village. So I am pretty excited as 1... no work monday (yes!!! life is good) and 2..... I have not been to a hot spings since aug when I went with rachel. I love the hot spings and it is almost like a bath. I miss Baths so much why are there only showers in china??? I have not been in a bathtub for months and I think that the hotspings will be the closest i will be able to get in a while yet. I will try and post ... read more
December 10th 2011
For about half a year Helen and I had been talking about buying a car. I was originally quite scared of owning a car as drivers in Wuhan seem untrained and erratic on the road. We continued with our weekly commutes with the bus and train rides of 2 to 3 hours each way. A car started to seem more of an option as our time together every week is so limited anyway. After going to the Wuhan car show about a month ago we had skimmed down the choices to Citroyen C4, MG 3, Renault, or QQ a Chinese ultra compact car. So we finally we decided to go for a 1.3 liter standard red MG. The MG company is no longer British a Shanghai company has bought it and kept the british engeneering intact ... read more
November 25th 2011
I am sooo full. We went to aloha's and had american thanksgiving! Pumpkin pie was AWESOME, just like from home. Also I know I am horrible at wirting entries. I have never ever been any good at remembering to put in writing entries at any time. I am sitting here at my computer at night and am soo full its unbeilevable. Anyways paul took photo's which I will try to steal so that I can post them here. All is good so far. I have 35 teaching days left until I go on holidays. woohooo!! No I am not counting down yet. The VP annouced it at the last staff meeting. I am really really looking forward to my vacay though.Otherwise life is good. I have money so life is even better. I am missing my ... read more
November 13th 2011
Siedze w kafejce internetowej na dworcu kolejowym Wuchang, dookola jakas setka mlodziezy, wiekszosc rznie w sieciowki albo nawija przez QQ. A ja czekam na pociag do Guilin, gdzie mam sie juz spotkac z chlopakami. Ciekawe, ile tez przywioza z mojej "listy marzen", obejmujacej twarog ze szczypiorkiem, razowy chleb, kielbache czosnkowa, kiszone ogorki, kozi ser, dobry browar... Widzialem sie wczoraj z Hanka. ( Dla niewtajemniczonych, to mieszkanka Wuhanu, czyli Wuhanka => Hanka W. , przyjaciolka z naszego wyjazdu na zacmienie w 2009r., uratowala nam wtedy tylki od ujgurskich nozy i kijow bejzbolowych.) Siedzielismy najpierw nad sporym jeziorkiem w srodku blokowiska, gapiac sie na male dzieci zasuwajace na szybkich rowerkach (smieszny wynalazek, takie trzykolowce, ale maly kierowca bardziej lezy niz siedzi. Przednie kolko jest nieproporcjonalnie duze, to ono wlasnie daje kopa). Potem prz... read more
October 10th 2011
Last Saturday I left for my first Chinese vacation. It was exhausting but fun. I took and 18 hour train ride to Chengdu from Wuhan which I will never, ever do again. It was sooo painful. From Chengdu we went to Leshan, eima Chan, The we went to dijaiuyan, and from there we went to jiuzhaiugo. We flew back yesterday which was also painful. I climbed (yes that's right) I climbed up and down mountains and I even got burned at the top of eima chan. I will post some pictures to tell more about it.... read more
