Blogs from Guangshui , Hubei, China, Asia

23.5.14 Destination: LUYI Distance: 142 Kms SubT. 824 Kms Bal 11,150.50 Kms Road Condition: CONSTRUCTION WORKS/ COUNTRY ROAD Weather: BLUE SKY- HOORAY Time in Saddle: 6 hrs Av Speed: av. 24 kph. Av Cadence 83 rpm Elevation: m up; M down Calories burned : 5,003 PLEASE NOTE NAME OF PLACE IN FORMAL BLOG TITLE MAY NOT RESEMBLE ANYTHING CLOSE TO THIS TOWN NAMED ABOVE. I DO NOT KNOW THE NAME OF THE PROVINCE, BUT THE SITE WONT OPEN UNLESS I PUT SOMETHING IN THE BOX. THIS WILL LIKELY BE THE FUTURE!!! Started today at 6 am breakfast, 100% improvement on breakfast. After leaving, the front group found their form and left me in their wake. So today was first day of navigating on my own, which went well. The street directions provided were most reliable. Their ... read more

We've had a very busy week and are both fighting off head colds as well. Last week we attended a school 'ball'. We were 'told' to be at the basketball stadium at 7pm but of course when we arrived there was nobody else there. People starting drifting in and at 7.30 the school bus arrived full of nurses from the local hospital. The ball was to celebrate Nurse's Day and to allow the young male teachers to meet young unattached ladies! We were herded into the stadium which was decorated with candles in plastic buckets and a disco ball in the centre of the dance floor. The electrical cord from the disco ball was strung across the floor and all night people kept tripping it! Safety regulations in China are nonexistent.... The nurses sat along one ... read more

Jerry and I have six days off this weekend due to the students sitting for mid term exams and then the Labour Day holiday break. The students have been very stressed this week and some have come to me in tears asking for help - they are very worried about failing their exams but unfortunately there is not much I can do to help them except give them an encouraging word or two. I have found teaching difficult the last ten days, particularly at the old school. I actually walked out of one class after a group of students were very rude to me and wouldn't settle down - I went back 10 minutes later and they were perfectly behaved after that - no doubt they got into trouble from the rest of the class! A ... read more

Another week has gone by! Time seems to be going by very quickly. Both of us are starting to feel tired - even though we aren't working particularly hard I guess just living here is starting to catch up with us. Day to day living is certainly much harder than in Australia. This week has bought the usual weekly dramas - clogged toilet, computer problems and no water for hours a day! This weeks lesson was totally on the computer and despite trying to take my computer into the classroom prior to classes to check all was ok the teachers told me that 'you just take your computer to the classroom, plug it in and it will work - don't worry!' - mine of course didn't! We have a different brand of computer to the other ... read more

Our day starts with us waking up around 6am with the sound of the students 'wake up music' in the background. This week they have started a summer programme which means that they all get up earlier and are now outside doing exercises at 6.15 instead of 6.40! We turn on the laptop and catch up with the morning headlines and have even started watching video excerpts of the local TV news. It's amazing what you can find to watch when you're desperate. We have no access to television news as the only English station on our TV is a 24 hours cable movie channel. There are also no English newspapers available at all in this part of China. We also download the headlines of Aussie newspapers every day. Breakfast consists of stewed apples and muesli. ... read more