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Small La Mian, Yangzhou
Brad with the main menu New photos on:
http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg311/draftwrite/ …..for someone brought up in the UK one thing that is impossible to get used to in China is the queue bomber. Not all Chinese people do it & Chinese friends tell me they don't like it, although they don't always say anything. Stainless steel rails are erected in every bus & train station in every major city in China to direct those waiting for tickets to the right. After buying their tickets they exit left. Except for the queue bombers, who occasionally, brazenly, enter left &, as though you don't exist, thrust their money through the hatch while loudly requesting their ticket. I am waiting patiently behind a petite lady when, just as she receives her ticket, 2 men & a woman block her exit & do just what I described. At first I didn't know how to handle this. Now I do. I reach over the petite lady's shoulder, grab the guy's wrist, wrench it back & politely allow the lady to get out. I then gently elbow the offender out of the way & buy my ticket. Easy when you know how.....
…..the lady selling tickets permits herself a restrained laugh! She's
Pudong, Shanghai
The new Shanghai tower surpasses the nearby "Bottle opener" financial centre, which is almost 500m tall seen it all before but often Chinese people, afraid to make a scene, will let these vulgar dickheads get away with it. Luckily I was in a really good mood. I have finished testing my students, results submitted & middle school foreign teachers have Tuesday & Wednesday off as the kids have Chinese exams! Had I been in a bad mood I would have grabbed the ¥100 notes, rolled them up in a ball & thrown them back, a long way behind the rear end of the queue.....
…..along with the unbelievable absence of information about school scheduling prior to mid-June's Duan Wu Jie, or Dragonboat Festival, all three of we Middle & High school foreign teachers have commitments in Shanghai in what has been listed as a 5 day break since the beginning of the semester, (balanced by working the weekends before & after I should add). Marc & John have to organise paperwork at the Egyptian consulate, ready for their new jobs next (school) year. I have a Linguistics exam after my first semester of online university study. One week before the holiday there are ongoing rumours about changes but no details! A few days in advance
Nantong, Jiangsu
Ugly Hotel across the canal we are informed that the kids will be, (if I remember correctly), at the school Saturday, Sunday & Monday, going home on Tuesday, returning Wednesday, at school until Saturday, then home for ….. actually, I can't remember any more. I think they must finally be exhibiting just a little embarrassment at this kind of chaos, they didn't say a word when we just said we'd be back from Shanghai on Wednesday.....
…..the Chinese teachers, who are paid less than foreign teachers but have written papers to mark & less freedom to query the impositions they have to deal with, have to wear all this. They have to work right through, weekends, last minute changes & any extra reports, meetings they are required to do or attend. We can only offer sympathy.....
…..due to the above lack of coordination or organisation we have been forced to allow extra time for the testing. In fact, it's all done by the last official week of our contracts. The kids also have Chinese exams on Tuesday & Wednesday, therefore 2 extra days off for me. I decide to take some time out, as my next semester's uni course starts on the 1
st Graffitti, Nantong
Raising standards of English of July. Miss Piggy has no free time for me to visit & see how she's coping with pregnancy. Nantong is only a couple hours east. I'll go there.....
…..Jiangsu province, where I live, is one of the smaller, (& richer), ones. It's only about 40% of the area of the UK, but has a population of 78,500,000, (about 15 million more than the UK). There are around 13 cities over 3 million in Jiangsu alone, Nantong is just another one, with about 7,000,000 in its metropolitan area.....
…..it's actually not a really attractive destination, especially as there is torrential rain most of the first day. Still something always turns up. A friend from Yangzhou has family there, including a sister, whose friend who is big in sand, (for the construction industry). The Sandman is interested in meeting foreigners & I end up being invited to dinner at a Niu rou fan dian, (Beef restaurant). Soon after we arrive the Sandman disappears. After a while I ask where he is. He has gone to another restaurant to order a couple of special fish dishes they have. They'll deliver them to the beef restaurant for us! I try to
Beef Restaurant
Bull's Penis Soup, Nantong imagine doing that in Australia.....
…..of course “beef” means anything related to a cow, or bull. One interesting taste, something yellow & creamy I assume to be one of the multitude of tofu dishes in China, turns out to be bone marrow. Something else, sort of crispy & meaty turns out to be cow's horn, rather the soft interior of the horn, fried. The fish dishes from the other restaurant are actually not that great so I turn to a soup that could be … I'm not sure. Squid, octopus … no. OK, Tell me. They omitted to let me know beforehand, it's bull's penis soup. Very expensive, good for men's health apparently. Also chewy, gristly & ultimately not very appetising. You can never say eating in China is boring though.....
…..the farewells begin. Around 7 of our foreign teachers are leaving, including Patrick, a young guy from Philadelphia who started with me in 2009. He's going home to decide what to do next. Niha will go to study at a university in New York. Julie, John & Marc are all going to Egypt. Good luck with that, what a time to go there! When I get back
from Nantong I find Alex & Krista have left early to go home to Manitoba. Alex's sister was killed in a car accident. What an awful way to end a great year. Other returning teachers are going away for varying lengths of time.....
…..it's now the first week of the holidays, with the Middle School summer camp starting next week. Only Paul, Mike & I left, oh, I almost forgot, the elusive Anthony. I have study for my Bachelor of languages degree. Also it's too hot to be out & about. Mid 30s & often humid. My little fan is running all the time I am indoors. Still no need for the mosquito net, which is good.....
…..my violin students, Betty, (LuDu), Cherry & Tammy are all progressing slowly. I sometimes jam with the band at the Old Brewery. Steve is travelling the 3 Gorges with his visiting parents at present but should be back in time for the Gloria Jean's & Ban Mu He Tan (Half Lotus bar), gigs at the weekend. There is increasing interest in booking us for gigs & an explosion of new cafes & bars especially around the popular Dongguan Jie tourist street.
Old Brewery_Yangzhou
Jamming with the Band The amount of construction in the east of Yangzhou is increasing at a phenomenal rate.....
…..I include the following messages to indicate the amount of work needed to make China fluent in English. I hope you'll laugh WITH my friends, as I do, rather than AT them, especially if you are monolingual. Remember my Chinese is not always much better!
Lauren, from the Half Lotus bar, reporting on a rain jacket I thought I'd left there after a gig:
…..”dave. I have find the raincoat for you but have no resort. I will try find it again. if I find it I will reform you”. Sunshine, comparing her new home of Xiamen with the rat-infested southern resort town of Beihai, where we visited her in the Chinese New Year holiday, 2012:
…
..”I like Xiamen , here not have big big mouse”.
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Glyn O'Brien
non-member comment
So apt
Hi Dave.... loved the queuing story.... Bren actually did grab the money and threw it to the floor at the side.... he WAS in a bad mood having searched for ages for the right place to book tickets; gone to the English speaking window and queued with quite obviously non English speaking Chinese people; eventually after 2 hours getting to the window only to have someone come in from the side! xx Glyn