Advertisement
At some stage I'm going to have to consider the privacy settings of this blog. I've taken my photo down, but can't change the name now unfortunately, and given the restrictions and surveillance levels prevalent in this country I'm considering what steps I can take to keep it for friends and family only. I would like to keep it on this website if I can, but will update with my decision soon...
In the meantime...jetlag continues and that combined with the heat has meant I'm taking a lot of naps. I've also got delhi belly (or whatever the Chinese equivalent is, Beijing belly? Tianamen tummy? I don't know) which has meant that today I've been steering clear of all local food and have just eaten a packet of walkers crisps and lots of biscuits. Not sure if it will help, but it's made me feel better in the long term!
The food here generally is sublime and ridiculous (to totally misquote someone great I'm sure). Yesterday I had some of the loveliest watermelon I'd eaten and some beautiful sweetbread but in the evening had to avoid various delicacies including ducks tongue and these horrible looking eggs which had green jellied whites and black yolks. Gross.
I now have a massive to do list, for the school and for me. It's great to be getting stuck in so soon actually, I was worried I'd feel like a spare part. We've got a staff meeting on Friday and are going to announce that I'm taking over the personnel management and share our plans for the summer. It's all very exciting and I can't wait for it all happen.
I need to find my camera (my dad borrowed it and left it here on his last visit) to take some pictures of my walk to work. It's only about ten minutes, but a bit treacherous. They have a habit here of just digging roads and pavements up and, if they're being really safety conscious, putting some bunting up, but often you're walking on the road or through a building site. It's not actually that dangerous as there aren't too many cars and the bikes go slowly, but it's amusing and has meant I've had to stop listening to my music so that I can hear the traffic pass.
I was quite amused yesterday to hear about one of the kids coming into to the school wearing a t shirt emblazoned with the slogan 'sex addict'. Poor Benny had to tell her not to wear it again, without explaining why!
Last time I was here it was winter so I didn't realise how much life the town has in the evening. The main square has a cinema screen and exercise classes (for free) and we saw about 100 women doing a gentle dace/exercise thing in their normal clothes right in the centre of the square. apparently anyone can join in, so may I'll persuade Rachael... 😊
The only other interesting thing that happened yesterday was going to Hangzhou for my medical. This little process would have cost about 600 pounds in the UK but only 41 here. I did feel like prize sheep or something though, being herded around, prodded and poked. You have to go into various different rooms for the different things and these really bossy nurses manipulate you into different positions to try and convince themselves that you should be able to stay. 'Highlights' include the nurse quickly glancing down my underpants (to make sure I'm a girl??), yanking my bra down to stick electrodes to my chest and giving me a little bowl to pee in (bearing in mind it's a squat toilet) which doesn't have a lid, so I then had to walk through the surgery bearing my own urine like a prize, trying not to spill it! Certainly an entertaining morning 😊
Thank you for the comments and messages by the way, it's good to know that my ramblings have a wee audience. X
Advertisement
Tot: 0.297s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 8; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0718s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mike
non-member comment
Hi Zaz
Hi there I'm glad to see you're settling into the routine there. I drove to beautiful somerset today - took my own monsoon with me there and back. Saw the Cheddar Gorge from head on, but alas the entrance was full of cloud so may as well have stayed on the drive all day with a high pressure hose pointed at the car (apart from the client meeting which was dry). Hey ho - not like you jet setting to a whole other world. Hope it goes brilliantly for you and Taz. xxxxx