Blogs from Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China, Asia - page 3

New photos on: http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg311/draftwrite/ …..Paul makes the observation that it's extended exposure to the people around you, seeing the layers peeled in chance encounters, observations & conversations, that makes life rewarding & interesting. This is prompted by a recent breakfast conversation exploring the paranormal & Mike's revelation that his interest at one stage extended to practical experiments in telekinesis, sitting on the toilet concentrating on making the paper unroll by the power of thought alone. Premature elation at what appeared to be an early success was later attributed to wind….. …..mini-detention now my preferred method of maintaining order in class. Why didn't I think of this before! Even if the gap between classes is only 10 minutes, just writ... read more

New photos on: http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg311/draftwrite/ …..Happy Easter everyone. Sorry, Easter comes & goes virtually unnoticed here in China, despite our English English teacher, George, being resilient through Lent & eschewing rather than chewing, chocolate, biscuits, (sorry, my American friends, cookies), & refraining from beer. Until the Chinese work out how to make money out of Easter bunnies I guess it will remain a curious festival, much as this week's Qing Ming Jie, or Tomb Sweeping Festival, might appear to some of you..... …..if there is the slightest chance that you may harbour any feelings of low self esteem, however insignificant where you live now, do not, under any circumstances, consider visiting China. Jenna, one of our Canadian English teachers, is approached this wee... read more

New photos on: http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg311/draftwrite/ …..the Women's Day show was acclaimed as one of our better efforts. I know, we were starting from a low base here but Mike as Whitney Houston & other (male) teachers as various female singers, plus Justin Bieber, (yours truly) did raise a lot of laughs. A picture says 1000 words, a video proportionately more. There's video of the whole show on the school website on this page: http://www.neworiental-k12.org/show.asp?id=6043 If, for some unaccountable reason, you don't want to wait through almost an hour of Chinese speeches & incomprehensible skits, wind it on to around 51 minutes for the foreign teachers' breathtaking performance..... …..there is not... read more

Photos: http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg311/draftwrite …..a few of us walk out of the Dong Fang Hong, (Oriental Red), restaurant, on the east side of the school straight into a fireworks display Sunday evening, set up & already fired up by the time, this being China, we just walk past what turns out to be a spectacular & deafening display which goes on for the best part of 15 minutes. We foreigners have to admit that, where we come from, the USA, Canada, the UK or Australia, only a display set up on a special occasion for a whole city would compare with this. The kids are all watching from more than 100m away but we still feel a shower of ash & embers, just before a wall of grey smoke adds another level of uninhaleableness to China's already dodgy ... read more

Photos: http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg311/draftwrite …..Sheet iron cowboy bone, Sting the head in the expert sea, The drunkard mixes chicken gizzard, Dried fish drunk grandmother, Explosion eel shrimp, Rugby Cornish broken fried beans, Griddle colon. What an exotic cornucopia at the new restaurant in Times Square, in Yangzhou's city centre where a few teachers & Sunny go for dinner one Saturday night. I've eaten there before with other Chinese friends & the food is fantastic, &, for around (in dollars) around Au$7 or 8 per head in elegant surroundings with the usual Chinese table service, at least 2 waiters on call, it's no surprise there are often people waiting for a vacant seat..... …..it is surprising that the very lavish picture menu is not more accu... read more