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...