Post Christmas come-down

Well that was Christmas. I hope everyone made merry and had a good time. I was a little strange here..for a start I somehow picked up a stomach bug in time for Christmas day. So no Christmas fare for me on the day. It also meant that I was not a great help with Penny which meant that Michelle had a pretty average day as well.

We did however get our wish for snow granted a few days prior to Christmas. It was a little sprinkling and was all gone by that afternoon but it was enough for a nice surprise upon drawing back the curtains.


The compound in the morning before the melt.


This is taken from a balcony of one of the teaching buildings on Mai Lu campus. It is always about 5 degrees colder there and luckily Michelle had an 8am class that morning...brrrrr!


This is a lone concrete Panda that inhabits one of the gardens at Mai Lu. Why? Who can say?


Our washing machine also suffered a little. It now lives in the bathroom.


Santa chose a Toy Story motif for Penny's 2008 stocking collection - here Zurg and Rex tangle at the dinner table.

Fortunately Penny had a great day, she was an excited little monkey and played with her many presents all day. I was feeling better for Christmas dinner (roast pork and veg with lashings of gravy and crackling) but could only manage a small serve and then in bed by about 6:30 pm leaving Michelle to a lonely Christmas night. The good news is that I was better by boxing day and things got back to normal - well as normal as it gets around here.


Penny has been obsessed with big blue gym balls since encountering one at a playground. So she was quite pleased to find one waiting on Christmas morning.


There was also a Duplo shopping centre...


...and a Woody doll with vinyl cowboy hat and drawstring activated voice - "There's a snake in my boot!"


Here is an unrelated non-Christmas picture of some passengers pushing a bus...irony? Wait a minute didn't we pay to push this bus?

We have had problems with our internet connection (again) which seems to have been fixed for the moment. The communication (or lack of) is still a frustrating part of most days. An IT guy came and played with our laptop for about 3 hours. Eventually he unscrewed the casing from the wall and fiddled with the actual network jack before telling me that the problem was due to the network being occasionally unstable... This seemed a little strange since we have had no problems at all and then all of a sudden we were being disconnected from the network constantly after about 20 minutes on line. When we took the laptop next door it was fine...I guess that the network problem was really only a problem to the little part of the network that we use! Anyway hopefully the problem is fixed now.


Once a fortnight Michelle and I get Anna the babysitter to visit and watch TV while Penny is a sleep so that Michelle and I get to go out. We have managed it 3 times now and hotpot has been the destination each time...mmmm spicy!


Quick game of pool anyone...anyone?

We have decided not to travel over the winter break. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly because all forms of transport are crazy ape shit bonkers over the period leading up to Chinese New Year. Secondly because it is expensive at this time of year and thirdly because we are going to buy a lounge chair so that we can have somewhere comfortable to sit for the next 6 months to a year. Another good reason is that the University will be blissfully empty of students...ahhh feel the serenity.


Last night we were invited by Maggie and Ryan to learn how to make jiao zi and bao zi. Maggie is an expert and lead the way. We did eventually try but with limited success (at best). They were delicious and I will be trying to master the recipe myself at some point (probably several points actually).


Even Penny had a crack!


This is roughly 11 kilograms of oranges...all gifts and most probably going to waste if we cannot find a juicer soon. Vitamin C abounds.

Almost Christmas

The temperature is tipped to hit -2 today and it seems to be dropping just as quickly as the wind is rising. More talk about the weather. Its seems that we have become obsessed with weather since arriving in China. Every post that we have made on this blog have something to do with the weather...too hot or too cold. Oh well. Christmas is approaching and we have both finished all of our exams and formal classes so now it is all pretty much smooth sailing...hopefully.


Due to popular demand here are a couple of photos of our Goose down jackets. Michelle models the knee length with belted waist.


While Darren shows us the popular ski-style look with reflective highlights on cuff and across the back...just the thing for that unplanned avalanche.

The foreign office had their Christmas party for the foreign teachers and students on Friday night the 19th. It was a pretty strange affair (par for the course I'm afraid) which consisted of Chinese students singing (hip hop and pop in a rather average manner), Nigerian students singing (more of the same except worse), Chinese teachers singing (not too bad), Canadian teacher singing (god-awful), Philipino teacher singing (really good voice terrible choice of songs), and then some traditional Chinese instruments (really good). This was interspersed with speeches, and spontaneous explosions of Nigerian hip hop dancing... Penny of course loved it and was on super excited hyperdrive. Michelle and I were somewhat less excited....


Some of the Nigerian students keepin' it real.


Penny, Darren and Jonathon (the Filipino teacher) at the banquet table for the party.


A quick pan around the table at the X-mas do.

We have been accruing presents for the little one and thankfully the last one arrived this morning. There is something of a shortage of good toys in China..ironic seeing that China manufactures something like 85% of the toys sold in the world. All we can find is guns, ultraman, and the cheap dangerous types of tat that you
get at Crazy Clark's back in Oz. So once again TaoBao comes to the rescue...and toys all round...good toys that is. Now we just need to have a couple of parcels from home arrive before Christmas and all is good. We have our pork roast ready and the fairy lights are blinking in the windows now all we need is some snow.



Merry Christmas everyone!! We hope that you all have a happy day and that Santa brings you all you desire.

Last couple of weeks of classes

Well we are finally approaching the last few classes. Michelle and I have both finished teaching for the year and now only the delights of testing remain. We have some classes in the week of Christmas but are just showing a movie as all of the exams will have been completed. We had a relatively warm spell for the last week although today seems to be back to the normal low temps.


Penny interacting with the locals. This is in one of the "brown spaces" on the campus.


Skidoosh!!!


Penny and Shellby.


Yes Penny still enjoys "cafe culture" here in China. Baby Vienna and donut with whipped cream anyone?

The air pollution seems to have increased in the couple of days and the visibility has dropped considerably. Its kinda like the days when there are bush fires on Mt Cootha (in Brisbane for those non-brisvegans) except the smell is more "chemical-ly." When we brought our clothes in off of the deck yesterday they smelt like they had been airing in the smoking room of a chemical waste processing plant. Nice!


This photo was taken at around 5:15 pm yesterday and you can see the thick crappy smog in the air. Needless to say it was a short sojourn outside.

The pollution here has become something of an issue. The last time we were here in Nanchang it was OK. The air pollution wasn't too bad at all. However there seems to be more cars, factories and dust than last time. Michelle read something about the air pollution targets here in China. Each province and city has to reduce their emissions to reach new targets. Some provincial governments are managing it and some are trying but not quite getting over the line. However Jiangxi seems to be going the other way. In fact the polluters are moving here as the provincial government wants their money (in bribes most likely) more than they want clean air and a healthy populace. In fact between the dodgy people and extreme weather we came to the realisation that Nanchang is actually the "Ipswich" of China...

As such we are actively looking for jobs elsewhere after our contract here is up next June. We are thinking of somewhere in Shandong province. It basically consists of a large peninsula just West of Korea and is known for its clean air and nice scenery. Maggie, one of the teachers here is from Shandong and her and her husband Ryan lived in a town on the coast called Yantai which sounds nice. There are a couple of International schools there so maybe it is a goer. We shall see.


These little suckers are called Nan Feng Mi Ju and are delicious. Basically they are a minature mandarin. The people here go crazy ape-shit bonkers over them and rush the fruit stalls selling them like a boxing day sale at David Jones. They are good, really sweet and usually seedless. Penny really digs them too which is great. Although after being given over 5 kilos as gifts from various sources we are all well and truly sick of them...


We all have our winter coats now which is good timing with the below zero months close to hand. We all have goose down jackets which of course are stylish and really warm. Penny is modelling the pink pointy hooded pixie look whilst dancing around the table playing her gourd pipe (there is a shortage of standing stones and pan pipes here so the pixies have to work with the materials on hand).


I had a look out of the kitchen window into the awful weather this morning and saw some street cleaners with their stick brooms scraping the dust into the teeth of the horrible arctic wind...of course the dust just blew right back into their faces and eventually landed back where it was. Oh well at least they have jobs I guess. Sorry about the quality but this one was from my phone...I promise I will do better next time.


Here is a high note to end on...the lovely Miss Penelope.

Winter has arrived

Well its officially cold now. The temperature overnight is set for minus figures and the wind has picked up again. All this conspires to make it C..C..c.c.cold. We have just ordered some goose down jackets and are eagerly awaiting their arrival. I took the above shot with my phone while waiting for the bus to go to one of my night classes. It doesn't quite convey just how cold I felt while taking it but you get the idea...


Speaking of geese these live on the lake on the North campus...probably flown South by now.


Penny likes watching and listening to the geese. They are always making a din and flapping about. On our last trip to the lake we checked out an adult "playground" (they dont really seem to make them for children in Nanchang??) there were kids all over it and it was as rusty broken down and dangerous as all of the other playgrounds that we have seen so far. So no joy for the Pen-ster who would love a real playground.


A kid plays on the sit-up bench while some older girls check out Penny and Michelle near the broken rusty chains of the weird pull down hatstand looking thing...

We are approaching the Winter break and classes are winding up which is good. However it also means that exams are around the corner and the compilation of results and attendance, participation etc are due as well. So there is some work to do before we take a break.


This is a pile of broken chairs. They are cheaply made and constantly breaking. In true Chinese fashion the makers probably tried to save some money and left out some screws or something...anyway there are students flying everywhere each class and the pile grows and grows. This pile is on the Mai Lu campus which is about ten minutes from home by bus. I'm not sure what the plan is for the chairs. They have been piled there for about a month now.



This is the back entrance to Mai Lu campus. This is where we get the bread vans back home at night and where the public bus leaves from during the day. There are no street lights so at night it is dark, dusty and at the moment it's freezing as well. A lovely mix.

We just got another parcel from home (Thanks Granma Alice!) with some X-mas decorations, presents and books for Penny. Its always exciting to get mail and since arriving in China we get more than we ever have. We get them from TaoBao (the Chinese version of eBay) and from an online kids book store and of course from the lovely, kind people back in Oz. We luvs youse all.

Christmas is coming...

Well the temperature is steadily dropping. Today the maximum is a balmy 14 with a low of 4 degrees. Each morning we awaken to windows fogged with condensation and frosty views. The winter low is still about 10 or so degrees less than we are experiencing at the moment so we will still need some more blankets for the bed and clothes for our backs...


Some morning frost on the roof of the gatehouse across from our flat.

We have put up the Christmas tree and have draped some tinsel around the house. It is not quite the same Christmas feel as we would have back in Brissie but we are starting to get the Christmas cheer happening.


Penny in front of the Christmas tree.


The lamp and curtains in the background...and the masses of Duplo in the fore.

The house is coming along nicely and we have just added a very cool lamp so that we can have some mood lighting at night. We also have put up some curtains in an attempt to trap some warmth from the big reverse cycle heater in the living areas. All and all it is getting to feel more like home and less like some kind of holiday apartment on the Gold Coast.


This is the front of the department store on the campus. This is where we get most of our daily bits and pieces from. The big planter pots have just been put there to stop all of the cars from blocking access to the door.


This is the back door which faces our little compound across the road. At night the space at the base of the stairs is full of food stalls and vendors a little make shift restaurant scene. that is until the bully-boys chase them all away. This seems to happen every now and again...these types of vendors are illegal here and every time that some kind of official or VIP arrives the vendors all get chased off. Its a real pity as the food is really good and really cheap.

Sorry for the delay...

It has been 14 days 3 hours and 24 minutes since my last blog...Sorry.

Michelle and Penny out for a stroll.

Anyway life goes on. We are tearing through the semester and are approaching the end of the year. We have about 5 weeks teaching left before we get a break and are trying to work out where we will go over the Spring Festival holiday period. We should get about a month off (on full pay with a travel bonus mind you) which will be great. Michelle and I are both enrolled in the summer semester at Uni and will have assessment due around then so it wont be all beer and skittles for the A-B's.

From the people who brought you gunpowder, the compass and paper - Plastic sleeve protectors!!! They ensure clean sleeves after each meal...genius!

We have just had (well Michelle is still having) mid semester exams for all of our students so our time has been consumed by preparing, marking and reviewing oral English role-play (no there are no Elves or Orcs although there is the occasional slaughter...usually of a gender specific pronoun or the pronunciation of /th/) exams...sounds like a hoot right? Well think again. 

Darren and the rather more angelic Penny.

Actually life is good and we have it all pretty easy. The only thing that really sucks for me is the night classes and the crazy illegal taxi rides that I have three nights a week. Take last night for example. After a 15 minute wait in the cold (about 6 out of the wind) we set off from the other campus to return home. Basically the taxi waits until it is full, this usually means about 10 people and the driver. The van is small, think a Dihatsu mini van, it has three rows of seats. The driver and passenger in the front in single seats and then two rows of bench seats in the back. To this already cramped aray they add a wooden bench seat between the front and middle seats. Last night we managed 11 passengers. The driver, being a flexible and inventive sort, managed to share his seat with a passenger...I'm not sure how as I was in the middle bench seat and had a row of people between me and the driver. Add to this the fact that two of the passengers were rotten drunk and reeking of booze and you just about have the whole picture. 

The only other addition is that of forward motion. Unfortunately this motion caused several problems...the first being in the stomachs of the drunken girls...the second being in the packing of the car. So as we moved forward the girls starting puking out of the windows and we all started being squashed against each other and various hard (and cold) metal parts of the car. The open window from the chunder also let in volumes of frigid air accompanied by the unmistakable scent of regurgitated booze...choice.

Penny has had a bit of a growth spurt which of course sets her even further apart from the Chinese kids. She is doing well and starting to pick up some Chinese words. She understands that there is another language now and asks to watch some of our DVD's in Chinese. She is particularly fond of Monsters Inc. and prefers the Chinese language version.

Penny giving her best Christmas cheer. Yes they even have Chrissie decorations here.

It has gotten cold...the average for the week has been about 10 with the wind chill maybe about 8. the days are dry and clear which is nice as you can finally see the mountains and hills that surround the area. Sometimes it is actually quite picturesque.

Anna (the babysitter, Penny (the baby) and Michelle (sitting)).

We have received our painting and rug that we ordered on tao bao (Chinese ebay) and the house is looking better than ever...not to mention that it is more comfortable. Nothing like a nice fluffy rug underfoot on a cold day.

Penny on the rug...doing something.

The paining. Not bad eh?

Rain..and more rain

Well its been raining pretty solidly for the last week. Not heavy Brisbane rain, just a soft annoying drizzle. It did actually stop for a day and was replaced by a heavy fog that hung around the campus and surrounding hills for the better part of the day. 

The foggy view that greeted us in the morning...China is out there somewhere.

Penny is going a little crazy with cabin fever as she is confined to indoor play while the rain holds...its just too muddy and cruddy outside. There is also some kind of vomiting diarrhoea bug going around the kids on the campus so it is adding stimulus to keep her quarantined.

The two beautiful girls.

While I write this Penny is running around madly being chased by the babysitter with a Panda bear puppet. Penny seems more at ease with her today which is great. 

Rain and rubbish...Every night the food vendors along the street just throw their rubbish behind them onto the street. So if you buy a spicy chicken wrap type thing they just throw the wooden skewer over their shoulder onto the pile and hand you your food. Every morning the cleaners sweep the rubbish into a big pile (as above) and then shovel it into their yellow rubbish carts and take to the dump..at least I assume it goes to the dump.

The rain is nice actually. After the long dry spells in Australia it is nice to see some decent rain. It is a little frustrating though as there was supposed to be a sports meeting last week which was delayed until this week but it is still raining so it has been cancelled again. When the sports day happens it will be on Thursday and Friday and no classes will be held on those days. Because of this the students had to do make up classes back in the first weeks of the semester. Michelle and most of the teachers had to teach on these days and now are waiting to reap the rewards of a long weekend. So she is eagerly anticipating a break which may or may not happen....in true Chinese fashion.

Traffic chaos at the gate across the road from our house...

One of my students said that there is a saying about Nanchang..."There is no Autumn or Spring in Nanchang"...not particularly poetic, however it does seem to be quite accurate.

Fire...Fire...Fire-drill! Whew...

As I returned home from a class the other day I noticed a high concentration of foreigners in the yard of our accommodation compound (compound or Stalag...depends on your mood). It all looked a little hectic so I ignored them and headed upstairs. When I got upstairs I had a perfect view of the following madness which they (the Chinese office staff) called a fire drill. Basically they doused some wood in kerosene or petrol or something frighteningly flammable and then lit it with some burning newspaper. 

I bet he wishes he hadn't used so much hairspray this morning...

Now where did I leave the snags?

Then everyone took turns at using the powder extinguishers to blast the fire. Each time someone was unexpectedly successful they would give it another slug of boom juice and go at it again. Mark take note...I think that you Australian fire fighters could learn from some of this!

Ummm I think you missed it...

Now you see him...

Now you don't....got a little too close methinks!

I love the smell of napalm in the morning...it really hides the stink of burnt eyebrow hair!