ErinOB

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... read more

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, gestured, and we sped off into the countryside. The total sum of English known by the two is "OK", and "Cheers", which doesn't lead to very in-depth conversations, but useful for doing the only thing ... read more

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 people's dregs. Many meetings happened, to talk about nothing. William would call at 7.30am about something urgent, only for us to find out that it was because he wanted us to teach phrases in our ... read more

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, as well as the singing thing. And they refuse to acknowledge that 'Country Road, Take Me Home' is not actually popular in the west, as they see it as the embodiment (em-tune-iment?) of all that ... read more

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, as he has issues with needles. But, I thought I should give someone a chance, as I do have faith in it, if done properly. The doctor is lovely, I can't understand a word, as ... read more

...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 know all 42 tones for 'ah', and use them instead of real words in conversations. And still get what you asked for/ordered/the information you requested. ...lime green, orange and magenta are the BEST colours for ... read more

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 last time we went hiking was the Hua Shan (see previous entry as I cannot relive the horror). 8am Saturday morning, we arrived bright and early outside the designated meeting place. Well, I got there ... read more