China is weird...

The view from the top... of the teaching building.

Holidays are officially over and we started teaching again on Thursday (yes Thursday! No not Monday...but Thursday). The campus is bustling again and it was kind of like someone turned on a tap and suddenly all of the students that were missing just came running out and resumed their normal positions.

It is weird here at times and I think that the hardest part of being in another country for an extended period can be the strangeness of everyday items...or maybe that is just China. OK maybe I am not being too clear here. Perhaps an example will clear things up a little.

We ran out of Colgate and headed over the department store to grab some more, toothpaste...pretty normal regular kind of thing right? Mint, maybe that kind of gel type green or red layered action, right? That's the extent of the weirdness potential for toothpaste...some gel or something. That is in Australia here in China the dental hygiene envelope has been well and truly pushed. How about some refreshing green tea toothpaste? Yes Colgate green tea freshness for your mouth...Mmmm! It was weird and the tube seemed to last forever.


Green tea toothpaste sounds OK to you? Well how about Pineapple beer?


Pineapple beer is perfect for washing down some nice preserved duck legs and quail eggs. No need to refrigerate these bad boys...for some reason.


In fact these dried squid strips or squid silk are best just gagged down warm as well. Believe me there is nothing better than the smell of these babies on a long train journey...


Mango chips anyone...or perhaps Lychee is more to your liking. Anyway that is enough almost rant for the moment. We have been well and things are ticking along nicely enough now that the shops are open and things are back to normal.


We did discover the world (or at least a map of the world made of shrubbery...a nice one mind you) from the top of the teaching building, although disappointingly it wasn't that accurate or to the right scale.


OK one more strange thing...this is the broom that they use to sweep the paths around the buildings with. These switch brooms are true old skool and ecologically sound to boot.


OK, OK the last weird thing, I promise. These red inflatable archways pop up everywhere and are usually secured by ropes to surrounding foliage and driven by a couple of normal household fans...the metres and metres of extension cords needed to run them are always good in the wet too.

Slow times at Nanchang high

Penny... and noticeably fewer Chinese followers.

Well it is has been officially quiet around here for the last few weeks. The Chinese New Year celebrations were the only sign of life on and near the campus. Once the students had left all of the shops and vendors just closed their doors (or wheeled their carts away) and left. The campus supermarket has been open for the duration which is has been good for the occasional trip for eggs or beer... The weather has been cold and rainy which has limited our excursions outside as well. We haven't had anymore decent snow although we had some sleet and snow that lasted for an hour or so on Australia day.


This is actually snow, and lasted for about an hour. Thankfully the rain and sleet ensured that the natural environment met the usual dirty and cruddy Nanchang standards. Can't have the crisp white snow making everything look pristine can we?


We have made it outside occasionally and it is nice to have the place virtually to ourselves.



Penny doing the stuck at home cause its raining and there is not really anything to do anyway mambo.

I submitted my last assignment for my postgraduate certificate on Monday which was good. Although I must say that I am not expecting a great mark as I have lost all motivation to study after having to submit assignments every couple of months for the last five years. Now its time for Michelle and I to start working on our lessons for the classes that start again in 2 weeks from today (yes a Thursday??).


We have gone off the hotpot a little although we did manage pretty well last time we had it here at home. The fresh shitake and oyster mushrooms are awesome easily the highlight of the dish, and ridiculously cheap. A big bowl like the one in the photo would be about 2 yuan or 50 cents. Gotta love it!


This is the local butchers. Nice set up eh? Bearable when the temperature is nice and brisk...


At the other end is the fruit and veggie market where we buy some of our stuff. We don't actually buy a lot of fruit and veg from here as the stuff grown locally is often full of pesticides and heavy metals from all of the crap in the soil around here. So we buy a lot of expensive stuff from Metro or Walmart where it is pre-tested or certified organic.

We have had lots of fireworks and firecrackers over Chinese New Year which weren't as bad as we initially thought they would be. Lots early in the night and then a few at midnight. I stayed up and got the video out for a couple but it was sooo cold that my hand was shaking. The snow, sleet and rain set in the next morning.



The above video was taken from our dust deck across to the teaching buildings and library on the Northern campus. Gotta love the ones that drop back to the ground and the car alarms...obviously very aware of public safety concerns. These fireworks went on for about 30 minutes or so and for a few nights... joy. This barrage was from the 31st of January celebrating another aspect of the Chinese New Year which runs for about 2 weeks.

I promise I wont be so tardy with my next blog...