A quiet week

---

Term started 24th August but for us the start has been a bit slow. Most teachers have been busy sorting out their classes and various admin that the leaders from the school want. There was also a boat-load of new students moving in to the digs ate the school across the road from us. The local hardware shops had sales just for the occasion! We are kind of having an extension to our holiday but at the same time feel frustrated as we also want to start our work.
I tried to send a parcel to a friend in England with the help of a Chinese friend. Customer service is not really a priority in China (in fact it’s not really a concept). The lady at the post office has to qualify for being the most unhelpful person ever! Initially, I thought it was because I had disturbed her from playing with her mobile phone and reading the newspaper. But then I discovered that she was just generally unhelpful. I was told that the necklace I wanted to send had to be put into a special box and that my box which I had carefully wrapped it in was not acceptable. When I asked her how much it would cost, she quoted me just over 200 Yuan (about £20). This was more than the cost of the necklace itself and very expensive. I said that I had sent a bracelet only two months ago to England and that it had cost a quarter of that. She didn’t believe me and became bored and continued playing with her phone. I asked for other ways of sending the necklace and she quoted me prices which were not much cheaper and which could take up to 2 months. My Chinese friend and I decided to leave as we were not making any progress as the post office lady was becoming quite angry. My Chinese friend felt very embarrassed about the situation and apologized to me. She said she wanted to apologize on behalf of China! Sometimes you just have to accept that you can’t send a parcel from a post office. Strange but true!
Having our “week off” means that we have more time to experiment with cooking. We are now able to bake a decent apple crumble without butter and we have mastered a delicious curry. Also we have more time for bike rides around the countryside. Not too bad a week all in all!

---

Photos

Sunflowers
A lot of the produce which is grown here ends up with bags on. This is to stop any disclouring or the birds from eating them.