The first week of 'real' work

So here we are Friday of the first week of full timetabled work. It has gone pretty well. We managed to get timetables that didn't crossover which means that we don't need a babysitter for Penny. I have all of my classes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and Michelle has most of hers on Thursday and Friday. 

Michelle and Penny and the Doreamon bike outside a little shop near the campus.

Penny and Darren taking a constitutional on the Northern half of the Campus.

Most of my classes are on another campus called Mai Lu which is about 10-15 minutes away by bus. The trip there is fine as a bus leaves from our campus a half an hour before each scheduled class. The trip back however is a little more complicated (of course). There are some school buses however most of the time you have to catch a public bus or a 'mian bao che' (bread van- so called because they resemble a little loaf of bread). The public bus and the school bus are great just like a buses back in Brissie really. However the bread vans leave a little to be desired. Basically they are small and dodgy with little or no suspension and try to fit about ten people in them before they leave. They have the front two seats and two rows of bench seats in the back and most also have a little wooden bench so that a few more people can be squeezed in to get maximum returns on the trip. I have three night classes and have no choice but to take a bread van as no buses run after my 8.10 class finishes. Its OK but I am not looking forward to the late finishes in winter as its a 10 minute walk to the back gate and then another 10-15 wait while the bus fills up. Its alright in the current weather but in snow, ice and sleet it will be another story altogether.

View from the back (middle) seat of a "bread van."

Apart from the extra teaching hours Michelle and I both have assignments due in a couple of weeks so we are trying to balance everything at the moment. Lots of fun! Basically it means that there is not much in the way of downtime. Still once we have finished the assignments we should have a little break until the next semester begins (well from Uni work at least...). 

The smallest celebrity in Nanchang...Penny!

We bought some pets. A couple of fish called Heathcliffe and Morton. Well we had a couple of fish. We now have one fish, unfortunately Heathcliffe has gone up to the great goldfish bowl in the sky...which was why Michelle wanted two fish. We kinda thought that at least one, if not both would be short lived.We have them in a little bowl on the kitchen table. Penny loves looking at Morton and is always trying to feed him and touch him (as you would expect of a two year old). 

We have been a bit quiet on food this time around so here are a few pictures of some delectable delights...guo bao rou (lightly battered pork), di san xian (stir fried potato, green capsicum and eggplant the top two rows of take away container, both DongBei cuisine), guo tie (pan fried spring onion dumplings) and spicy Chinese chicken kebab thingies (chicken breast on flat bread, in flat bread (yes two layers of bread) with spicy chili sauce and some pickled vegetables from some street vendors)....mmmmm thingies! 

Some spicy treats from Sichuan (well from a small Sichuanese Restaurant). Beer duck (bottom left) Mapo doufu (bottom right), braised eggplant (top left) and some stir fried greens (the green one).  Full of fire with chili and Sichuan pepper throughout. We are spoiled for choice for food here. There are three Lanzhou noodle hand made noodle shops, about four Sichuan restaurants,two Dong Bei restaurants (North Eastern Chinese food) and about twenty little food shops, stalls and hole in the walls all making delicious food at ridiculously cheap prices and all about a two minute walk from the flat...Shazam!

A scenic garbage wagon thingamajigee near the equally scenic lake on the northern end of the campus.

We have had a couple of blackouts the last two nights. Thankfully they have been after Penny has gone to bed and are sorted by the time we get up in the morning. So Michelle and I have had a couple of romantic candlelit nights. We also had a rather rude and unromantic awakening at about 4am yesterday when the power came back on and somehow tripped the burglar alarm in our flat. So we were awoken by a screaming siren and both leaped out of bed and ran to the console by the front door where we punched and mashed the buttons until the wailing ceased...thankfully Penny didn't wake up because 4am is a little too early a start. That was the extent of our excitement for this week so its back to some news from home.

Congratulations to Angie and Rich on the birth of little Molly. Good work all round I'd say! I guess that means you are next Mel and Mark! Also happy birthday to Dad and Garry for the 7th, and Andrew and Suzie for the upcoming 14th. I hope you all had (or will have) a nice relaxing day.