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ErinOB - Erin OBrien

Erin OBrien Back in China, loved my 3 months here so much. Am here for the year, so leave lots of lovely comments please.
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Joined on: January 9th 2006
Last Login: September 3rd 2008

Blog Entries: 47
Photos: 214
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By ErinOB
February 11th 2008

Long Time, No Update

 Asia » Thailand » Central » Bangkok
Hey People, Sorry for the silence - a lot has happened in the last few months. We have relocated to Bangkok for a while. I have started another blog more suited to our new situation, if you are interested, email/message me and let me know, I'll send you the link. I won't put it up here, as it's going to be more personal. I will still be putting up new travelblogs on here though, catching up on ones I still haven't written. Oh, so much to do, and so little inclination to actually do it. Hope you all are well. Erin [View Full Entry]

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102 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: February 11th 2008 | 59 Views | [diary=245131]


Another attempt to earn some desperately needed summer cash. When we returned from Hunan province, missing horribly the ambrosial succour that is William's company, David said that he had another opportunity for us. A week later, after Cecelia spending much time on the phone, and us being completely uninvolved in any of the plans, found us waiting to be picked up outside the school gate, for some demo classes around Shaanxi province. "They'll be there between 12 and 2," sez Cec. 2.45, a big, black, shiny Nissan pulled up. The two bossmen, who we later dubbed Elvis and Costello, bounced out, [View Full Entry]

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1585 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 21 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 12th 2007 | 150 Views | [diary=191428]

Yana Suburbs
Cool, but bored, teacher
Don

Woke at 5.30 am, heart filled with joy, dancing around the hotel room, bluebirds serenading me as I packed. Why the life filled with love and laughter? I hear you all ask. Well, today I am leaving YueYang's Sinopec compound, and will be freed. William was so embarassed about the job not working out, that he decided to treat us to a mini-tour of his university town, only abaout two hours away. I would have preferred to leap on the first bus outta here, but am also very stingy, and wanted to take advantage of a free holiday. William and [View Full Entry]

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1862 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 28 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: July 14th 2007 | 148 Views | [diary=183082]

YueYang Temple
What a lovely temple
I wish I had a flag and a megaphone, then I

William, one of our students, has an image of himself as a master businessman. About two months ago, he decided to set up a school, in the town his girlfriend's father lives. He offered us places as teachers, 10,000 kuai each a month, for two months. Apartment, flights paid for, the works. Wow, says us. This sounds like a fantastic plan. Making loads of bucks, seeing a different part of China, good hiking down there, and we'd have enough money to afford stuff when back in England for a week or so, rather than having to beg poverty and drink other [View Full Entry]

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1488 Words | 3 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: July 13th 2007 | 107 Views | [diary=181393]


By ErinOB
June 24th 2007

Earache

 Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an
Just back from another marathon KTV session with the med students. For all their concern about face, and the losing therefore (ie, being embarassed in front of others), and the insistence that they are shy, quiet people, they can't half belt out a tune. In class, I never get volunteers for anything to do with speaking, they refuse to stand up, preferring to speak from their seats. Understandable. But when it comes to karaoke, everything goes out the window. Someone chose a dance tune, proper electro-sino-pop, with about six words in it, then got up and danced along with the video, [View Full Entry]

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328 Words | 5 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: June 24th 2007 | 116 Views | [diary=172879]


By ErinOB
June 20th 2007

I'm Cured...It's a Miracle

 Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an
Have been feeling a bit rundown for a while, so when Cecelia (the Chinese wife of David, the Scottish fella) said that she was going to her TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) doctor for another bout of acupuncture, I thought it would be a wonderful idea to accompany her and see what the story is. My total experience so far with TCM was a brief lecture by CCS, and one needle in the base of my thumb as an experiment. None of us felt any better, the only one affected in any way was Alex, who promptly went green and clammy, [View Full Entry]

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677 Words | 3 Comment(s) | 5 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: June 20th 2007 | 172 Views | [diary=171306]

David the Scot
Me and Cec
David and William

By ErinOB
June 17th 2007

School's Out For Summer

 Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an
David and Cec
David and Cec
They came over for food and Playstation, but it started thunderstorming. So they stole our clothes.
So, exam time at Chang An. My course is continuous assessment, with marks being given for those who turn up week after week, and those who volunteer, as opposed to letting me stand in front of the class in silence, watching them squirm as they try and hide behind their books. A lot of students only turn up on the first and last day of classes though. I had one student run past me on the stairs, only for him to catch up with me a couple of hundred metres down the road home... "You! You are my teacher?" "I [View Full Entry]

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348 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 2 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: June 17th 2007 | 99 Views | [diary=171313]

Joakim pondering

...hocking and spitting onto the street seems the best way to get rid of the dust in your throat, and it doesn't seem gross anymore. ...you start referring to the pollution as 'the dust bubble'. It comes from the Gobi, you know. Honestly. That's what everyone says. ...you only drink beer from one litre bottles at 15 pence a go. ...you shout at waitresses if they try and charge you 20 pence for the aforementioned litre bottles of beer. ...shouting "fuyuanr" at waitresses is no longer rude, but the only way to get any sort of attention in a restaurant. ...you [View Full Entry]

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612 Words | 3 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: June 15th 2007 | 142 Views | [diary=169456]


By ErinOB
May 7th 2007

The Wilds of China

 Asia » China » Shaanxi » Tang Yu
May 1st-7th is a National Holiday, so no school for a week. Amazingly intricate plans to go to the south were semi-formulated, then tossed aside as I remembered what a horror travelling was last May holiday. Everyone goes everywhere, either home to their families, or just to wander about. The trains are somewhat similar to cans of sardines, and of course we would get that extra special 'happy holiday' special friend price for everything from a hostel to a bowl of noodles. So, we went camping. We tried to persuade David and Cecelia to come with us, as they had [View Full Entry]

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1871 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 15 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 7th 2007 | 183 Views | [diary=155883]

Mountains!
It
Camp Number 1

By ErinOB
April 26th 2007

Tang Yu and Hiking - sort of

 Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an
El Group
El Group
With one missing
A group of students invited some of us very important teachers away for the weekend. They had heard we liked hiking, and so had planned a 'happy tour' around Tang Yu, a village about an hour south of here, in the mountains. Yummy, says me, and packed my backpack full of all-weather clothes, extra socks, sleeping bag, tent, cotton wool to start a camp fire in case there was no dry twigs around, water purifying tablets, and a bag of food for Artemis, as she isn't very good at foraging. How exciting, my first proper camping trip in China. The [View Full Entry]

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1315 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 8 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: April 26th 2007 | 162 Views | [diary=152543]

The Hill
Temple at the top of The Hill
And down again



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