Blogs from ChangSha, Hunan, China, Asia

After my expensive Starbucks the previous morning, I headed to McDonald's for my caffeine fix. Much cheaper, but a lot scruffier. I took the subway to Yingwanzhen station, which is near the start of the trail up Yuelushan mountain. There were a lot of people heading to the mountain. There were entry gates and it was the same mini program as the one I was unable to use for Orange Island so I just snuck through when the gates opened for the person in front of me. The mountain isn't much of a mountain, more like a big hill. The first part of the trail was along the road and just a gradual climb. I passed the entrance to the cable car that can take you to the top, but it was closed for maintenance. The ... read more

An unexpected few days off work meant I was able to visit Changsha. I had wanted to visit in the National Day holiday but train tickets were impossible to get. Changsha seems like a popular city for Chinese people to visit, but not really known so much outside of China. The train journey itself was nondescript and after a couple of hours or so, I arrived in Changsha. I was mildly irritated that I had had been unable to set up the subway app on my phone as it only worked with Chinese ID numbers. Luckily, ticket machines in all the subway stations were plentiful so it was easy enough to get a ticket, it just meant I had to know where I was going at all times. Exiting the subway station, I was in one ... read more

Od 2 lat nieustannie nie opuszcza nas powinowactwo do wszelakich kataklizmów. Dwa lata temu w Japonii musielismy uciekać przed dyszacym nam za plecami tajfunem Chaba. Rok temu wzbierajacy wulkan Agung i towarzyszace mu wstrząsy dość kategorycznie zmienily nasze plany. Jakże miałoby być w tym roku? Jednak zanim o kataklizmach, muszę cofnąć się do przedwczoraj. Przedwczoraj silny organizm mojej żony pokonał zdradziecką chińską bakterię i, mimo, że jeszcze osłabiona postanowiła zapalić zielone światło dla dalszej eksploracji Narodowego Parku Zhangjiajie. “Jak najmniej chodzenia bo jestem słaba jak żart z brodą” zaznaczyła Basia przed wyjściem z hotelu. Niestety jej słowa nie znalazły potwierdzenia w rzeczywistości. Przewodniki twierdza, że aby obejrzeć park i zaliczyć wszystkie jego rejony potrzeba wiecej niż 2 dni. Jednak gdy my odpalimy już silniki to konsekwentnie, na zasadzie “... read more

I got way behind on this Blog, but I'm going to try to update it quickly. Maybe at some point I'll go back and talk about teaching at ZhouNan, but for now, I just want to post some photos from my Spring Festival trip that I went on with a few of my friends. Really quickly, Spring Festival is also known as Chinese New Year. It's also a good time to break between the semesters, so just like American students get about a month off from school for Christmas/Holidays, the same goes for Chinese students. The length of the holiday varies from school to school, and being a foreign teacher, I got a few extra weeks off due to testing and whatnot. I've often heard that Chinese New Year is the equivalent to the Christmas/Holiday season ... read more

China Blog Post 7 6/26/2017 Intro The last time I posted a blog was in early March. It’s been a long time. A lot has happened since and I’m excited to write about the adventures I’ve had these past few months. When I last wrote, my WT (World Teach) colleagues and I were throwing a going away party for Dom. Unfortunately for personal reasons he had to leave early and return to Australia. Since March I’ve had some more travel stories, teaching disasters and teaching break throughs. Before continuing I want to let all of my friends and family know that I am currently working on a commentary, writing about my observations and experiences with Chinese culture. It will be different from my blog as I’ll solely be focusing on analyzing aspects of Chinese culture. It ... read more