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Published: June 17th 2012
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A Real Man's Manbag, Yangzhou
Spotted at La Mian restaurant, lunchtime New photos on:
http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg311/draftwrite/ …..the manbag is, to some people, a contentious issue. It's just another name for a handbag after all & might look a little, well, effeminate. I tend to rely on cargo pants to carry around the increasing amount of life's essentials, phone, electronic translator, pens various cards etc. However Chance Neale & I, at La Mian for a quick lunch on Friday, discover a Real Man's manbag. I already mentioned to Chance on the bus that, having left my camera at home there would almost certainly be something worth photographing. Luckily I have my tablet with me. Sorry, the picture quality isn't good but you can probably see from the photo at the top, you don't kick sand in the face of a man with a bag like this.....
…..talking of increasing numbers of “essentials”, often things that require recharging, my phone is apparently beyond repair & I can't connect the charger to the USB port. I am offered a universal charger, which involves taking out the battery & putting it in the ¥10, (about $1.50), charger, adjusting two metal pointers to connect with the terminals & plugging it in. Apparently works with any
Vegetarian meat, Daming Si Restaurant
Looks like meat, tastes like meat, but it's all done with doufu and mushrooms! removeable battery. A spare battery for the phone, (about ¥30,or $5) & my ¥100 phone is working again.....
…..I structure my Grade 8 students' English test to rely less on answers they can just memorise & more on testing their ability to converse in English. Of course testing over 320 13 to 14 year olds there are bound to be a few noteworthy answers:
Q: Tell me something you can't stand.
A: “I can't stand shit”.
A: 'I can't stand ugly women”.
A: (From a kid who forgot the idiomatic meaning of “stand”), “I can't stand ...er...on water”.
A: I can't stand that I am so small. (from a really short boy, so sad!).
Q: Wheat is grown in Australia, what about rice?
Answers varying from one word, “China” or a more acceptable, “Rice is grown in China”, to “Rice is also grown in Australia & also in wetter areas of south Asia”.
Perhaps the most illustrative of the lack of success in language teaching methods, the following two questions & answers:
Q1: When did you first meet your best friend? Student: “What is mean “meet”?”
(I end up having to translate to Chinese
Jenna's Farewell, Laoma
Marc, Erin, Niha, Patrick for him to understand the question).
Q2: how long have you been studying English? Student: “I six year study English”
I hope I six year study Chinese, I can more good than he speak.....
…..with a few pointers from Paul, (one of) our resident film expert(s) I now have access to websites which allow you to download subtitles, either English for foreign films, or Chinese for English ones to show my students while the English test is underway. I didn't realise you could do that. There's also a site called
http://www.kids-in-mind.com/ which rates films for kids, with full breakdown in three categories, sex/nudity, violence/gore & profanity. It's really useful as, in a film you might remember as fairly innocuous, a scene can appear that may not be suitable for 13 year olds. They've been pretty happy with my choice this time, “I am Legend”, (with Will Smith).....
…..another teacher, (no names!), has informed me there is also a website which will pinpoint the exact moments in films where nudity occurs. Who would have thought it?.....
…..Jenna's birthday isn't until October but, as she'll be leaving next week, probably never to return to China, she decides to
Elaine, Laoma
Sent to fetch an opener for Grace's wine. Enlarge photo for detail! have a birthday dinner at Laoma, one of our favourite restaurants. I have my Friday evening gig afterwards at Gloria Jeans but a sizeable contingent goes to ride the Bumper Cras, (sic, see last week's spelling mistake photo!). They arrive at Gloria Jean's later &, after Steve & I have finished playing we somehow end up at KTV until around 2am.....
…..you may have seen KTV mentioned in previous blogs. It's one of those concepts, (karaoke in this case), that has been imported into China & has taken on a distinctly Chinese character. Walking into cavernous reception areas then around garishly lit corridors it feels initially like walking round the set of “2001, a Space Odyssey”. Of course the scale is Chinese. Hundreds of dimly lit, rooms with a large, flat screen, a console with thousands of songs, mostly Chinese of course but enough in English for us to get by & tables for snacks & drinks. The rooms are hired by the hour & people with various singing abilities are let loose. How popular is karaoke in this country? There doesn't just appear to be a KTV in every city in China but a KTV on almost every
Gloria Jean's, Yangzhou
Sunshine, Jenna, Klass, Grae, Lorenzo other street corner in China.....
…..this song title is not in any KTV I've ever seen, I just spotted it during a search for something else on the 'Net: “Drop Kick Me Jesus (Through The Goalposts Of Life)” by Bobby Bare.....
…..there is, or was when I was there, a chain of shops in Australia called “Cunningham's Warehouse”, (there used to be other, similar ones, like Cheap as Chips). I used to be disturbed at the sheer, chaotic volume of “stuff”, tonnes of cheap, virtually disposable items in what appeared to be obscene quantities. Now I go to the Qu Jiang, (what we foreigners call the Blue Market), to buy things like stationery, umbrellas, mosquito nets, etc, etc, etc. It's a four storey block that would make the largest Cunninghams look like a corner shop, connected to another one the same size behind it. It is “stuff” on a scale you might find hard to imagine. Ridiculously crowded shop spaces run by families who sit, at lunchtime around tiny tables crouched on impossibly low stools, (around 20cm high), in the already congested alleys. When they've finished eating they often sleep on recliners until a customer arrives. This sort
Sunshine, KTV, Yangzhou
A little Sunshine on a gloomy day of market is multiplied many times, in every one of the hundreds of cities in China.....
…..according to current estimates China has over 170 cities with a population over 1 million. There are 9 in the USA & only 1, (London) in the UK, with Birmingham at almost 1 million. The entire West Midlands' population is a bit over 5 million but that's what used to be Birmingham plus 5 counties. It's amazing now to discover how small cities in the UK are. They always looked huge when I was younger!.....
…..I have been trying to remember all the things that we couldn't believe or thought we'd never get used to when we first arrived in China but of course things soon become commonplace. A quick survey over dinner brings up the following, incomplete selection; E-bikes, babe in arms being carried by a woman on the back with no protective gear, running a red light to realise it's not such a good idea, the rider waiting in the middle of the intersection sending an SMS while traffic passes on both sides. In cheaper restaurants, being offered a toilet roll if you ask for “san jing zhi” or tissues.
Alex, BBQ Chef
End of year BBQ at the school Up to 7 TVs, (the old CRTs, not flat screens), tied to the back of a scooter. Seat belts in the rear seats of taxis ALWAYS unusable due to the seat covers. Horns on trucks & buses that operate (frequently), at volumes which could cause permanent ear damage. The sort of air that in South Australia would be associated with a severe bush fire being considered as a beautiful, clear day. Restaurants that just cannot find any cold drinks, even in summer. (Chinese people seem to think ice cold is bad for your health, we consider warm beer equally so). Being offered ice to put in your beer if the bottle is warm! Being asked your age, weight or other personal details by complete strangers during ice-breaking conversations. Changes to school timetables happening, at best with notice given the previous day, at worst, on arrival at an empty classroom. So many slender women looking like models, in hotpants, minis, high heels, on e-bikes, going to the supermarket or taking the kids to school. We do our best to live with all this. It's a hard life but we don't complain, (at least not all the time).....
…..there will be
a hiatus of at least two weeks, maybe a month, as I'll be off to Chongqing in Central China next week to meet Bruce & Kerry, two friends from Melbourne who are to visit China for the second time. After I return from this big trip which, among other things, will involve a total of over 75 hours of train travel, it's almost straight into the Summer Camp at the school, which will be another intense two weeks. Catch youse in August....
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Glyn
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Things you were surprised by
Hi Dave... I loved your (and friends) list of I can't believe things..... I recognised them all! Wearing pyjamas in the street was one for me.... so many people did that in our district.