Blogs from Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, Asia - page 13

For their exam topic, my students needed to interview a married couple and tell their love story using past tense. Keep in mind that my students' parents and aunts and uncles would have all met in the mid-1980's -- mid 1990's. A student decided to talk about a celebrity actor and actress. When I asked how she interviewed them, she replied that she found the information on the internet. I explained that since she didnt' follow the instructions, I would take off a few points. She replied that she had misunderstood me. I pointed out that it was clearly written in her book as part of the questions they were assigned. She looked sad and sat down. The next pair of students stood before the class. One gave a brief introduction (less than a minute) that ... read more

My favorite week of the term! Student groups write plays, not for themselves, but for another group in the class. The next week they practice and perform. Here are my favorites of the term: One group did a quick rewrite to include a student who'd been absent last week. They decided he was Garlic (the vegetable) and was responsible for all the problems two couples were having (where one half of each liked garlic and the other thought it was smelly). Then in the end he pleaded with them to not eat him because he wanted to live.A pair of crossed lovers made more interested because the actors ... read more

Saturday, 30th March 2013 to Sunday, 31st March 2013 Another round of dim sum affair greeted us at Jade Garden this morning. Located within Taikoo Hui Mall, the decor of Jade Garden followed a modern-fusion theme. It was weird that western teapots and cutlery could co-exist together with Chinese chopsticks and spoons. The attractive dim sum menu was colourful and the pictures were certainly useful for non-Chinese speakers. Food was ok at Jade even though our votes would certainly go to Guangzhou Restaurant anytime. After breakfast, it was time for some grocery shopping at Jusco Tianhe branch before heading back to our apartment. When it was time for us to say goodbye to Ascott at 1pm, we parked our luggages at the reception before continuing with the rest of our itinerary. Depsite the heavy rains in ... read more

Wednesday, 27th March 2013 It was 7 years back since I last travelled with C and S, two of my greatest buddies from NUS. I remembered back then, the few of us travelled to HK & Macau as part of our graduation trip for 10 days. Actually, we did attempt to organise a trip to Bali a couple of years later but it had to be cancelled due to some security concerns. So there we were 7 years down the road. By this time, as working adults in our 30s, C and S had settled down happily. I was quite thankful that their better halves had given us their blessings for us to go away during the Easter long weekend. Our Guangzhou trip was decided quite smoothly during one of our recent meet-ups. Before we knew ... read more

Skype to daughter - 'Hello, Freya, I'm in China!'. Hadn't said, apparently. She was a little bit speechless, which doesn't happen often. Information first: Can't get facebook on eother iphone or notebook - maybe it is banned here. Transitting through Guangzhou with a stopover. I have a 14 hour, overnight stopover here, as it was the cheapest flight I could find. The internet was full of conflicting information about this process, as follows: a. you are not allowed to leave the airport at all b. China Southern pay for a hotel if your stopover is more than 8 hours c. they don't do the above d. you can leave the airport, but only if you have a Chinese visa ( I don't) e. you can apply for a transit visa if your stopover is less than ... read more