Changes

Bare with me while I redesign the blog. I have to re add some stuff...What do you think? I think it's quite beautiful :-)

Christmas Parties

Christmas Eve was a hive of activity at school. Every class held their own Christmas Party celebration. The kids gave me invitations to attend and I'm glad I did :-) When I arrived I got a rock star welcome BUT it's not just me! When Sarah arrived she also got the same loud, warm welcome and then later when Nettie arrived, again huge cheers, clapping and attention. It seems they love their English teachers! Really makes you feel good.

Sarah brought one of her twins along and Nettie brought Carol. Kids here in China really seem to look after other kids very well. They all call each other younger or older sisters or brothers and seem to treat each other that way.

I had a great night even though I had to sing a Chinese song in each class party I went to. The kids get really excited when you speak or sing in Chinese. Infact the kids here just LOVE to sing and dance FULLSTOP.

Christmas Challenge

Seems I'm being tested...given some "Growth Material". Firstly "Merry Christmas" Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day and continue to have a great Chrissie break! I didn't blog my "Happy Chrissie" message yesterday because ....well...lets say it was definately a trying day. "Thursday afternoon (Christmas Eve) the water went off(not unusual for around here)...what is unusual is that it is now "Boxing Day" morning and the water is still not back on. "Christmas Day" itself was quite pleasant, I was asked to be a judge at the kids English singing competition in the afternoon. It was a lot of fun and a couple of the performances were really standout great! After that I came back to try and organise for my Chrissie Party, thats when the electricity went out aswell! With 7 friends and 10 kids about to arrive I tried to maybe "cancel" (the obvious thing we would do in such a situation in Australia...but...apparently not here!) So I walked to the shop downstairs and bought a heap of candles and a torch. Before most of the guests started to arrive, electricity did come back. With yet some other kinda cold thing hanging around...It was a tough evening to say the least.
Many dhamma teachings and other well known sayings that we grow up with kept running through my head "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" etc...
There is a Zen saying "When my house burned down, I gained, an unobstructed view of the moonlit sky"
Well I tried to see the stars but wasn't very successful (lol) Keep practicing I guess!

励志警句

Inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well being. Cultivating a close warm hearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease and opens the inner door.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Big Christmas Sale!

This afternoon the Junior 1's held a wonderful event as part of our "English Culture Week", holding their own "Big Sale" at school. They had a couple of stores (stalls) per class and over the past weekend they went shopping with a small budget to buy things to sell at their shop stalls today. Then at the end of the day they split the stalls takings evenly between each kid in the group. Great idea!
It was a whole lot of fun. Check out my kids enjoying themselves :-)



Most of the teachers (including myself) ended up not being able to say no to the kids. Seeing them enjoying themselves so much and selling, using their English speaking skills was a joy. All the teachers could be seen walking around with arms full of shopping from supporting the kids fun afternoon.

Happy Anniversary

To my amazing Mum and Dad,

"HAPPY ANNIVERSARY"

I love you both very much.

C.B.D shopping brings Walmart to Yichang

The new C.B.D shopping area has brought a few nice new shops, restaurants, big state of the art movie cinema complex and as from a couple of weeks ago a new Walmart to shop in. I first visited the Walmart a couple of days after it's grand opening and it was so busy I thought I would never get used to such a big busy shop. People pushing and shoving in long crowded queues (if you can call it a queue in China :-)It looked promising but all really wanted to do was get out...it was so noisy and overcrowded...I joked with my friends that I didn't realise so many people actually lived in Yichang.
Last night I ventured back. I had a fairly extensive list of groceries and that involves getting different things from different stores. I thought my best chance of getting everything in one place was more likely to happen in Walmart. To my relief the crowds had diminished and I could really see what was available. To my joy many things to make things a little more normal for me here in China (Grocery wise) were scattered around everywhere. Not only did I get Beef (WOW), Pork, Chicken, Fruit and Vegetables in one shop, I also found such gems as a huge array of frozen goods, such as frozen french fries and frozen vegetables. Also a big fridge full of ready to go Chinese meals all cut up and ready to stirfry, even hotpots for 1 or 2 people all ready to cook! They even make Pizza and BBQ chicken on roast spits fresh, hot and ready to eat. The prices here? Very cheap! I'm impressed. One of the things that I thought was GREAT were the lights in all the freezers, fridges and cold shelves that are sensored, so they go on when someone walks up to have a look at the food and turn off when no-one is looking. Very energy efficient and Earthwise idea! Nearly as good as the Bus drivers here who stop the buses engine when they stop at traffic lights, even when it's a 50/50 chance as to whether it actually starts again :-)

Birthday Bonus

Another birthday came and went and I was totally looked after and spoilt by my friends, school and students here in China and my family and friends back home.
A big thankyou to Judy who sent me a lovely traditional "Christmas Fruit Cake" and "Shortbread Biscuits" for Christmas and a very cool "Sayings of the Buddha and other Masters" book for my birthday:)The sayings are so uplifting I might start picking out some favourite to post more regularly on here. Mum and Dad, THANKYOU for the Christmas/Birthday parcel full of goodies. I really love the Perfume very much and I now know that Father Christmas will still find me here in China and fill a stocking for me on Christmas eve...(How old am I ? :-)Here in China I had students giving me cards, not shy in saying their love for me (which really makes your heart feel warm), many renditions of "Happy Birthday", a day or two of all the kids walking past wishing me "Happy Birthday", blackboards decorated with "Happy Birthday" messages, Dinner and beautiful gifts from my friends, "Birthday Cake"......I really am treated so kindly here. Everyone is so generous, kind hearted and loving towards me. I am so GRATEFUL!

Shifu (Master)

The name here in China for a master tradesman, someone who is very skilled at what they do is "shifu"...For those of you into Kungfu movies...there is always a "Master" who guides their young apprentice. Well I visited a very skilled Shifu yesterday. Years of playing Goals in Hockey and throwing myself around sometimes comes back to haunt me and a few days ago it visited in the form of lower back and hip pain that became so sore, it was difficult to walk. The time had come to face another "China Experience".
Yes, I've tried the foot massage but really that's just what the Chinese do to relax. This time I was going to see a Massage Shifu who has 40 years experience to back him up.
A little nervous "YES"...From my experiences here, the Chinese love any chance to massage, beat and hit, prod and pull, pick and poke. I also knew that this place not only did massage but also "Cupping"(sucking your skin up into little glass bowls) and "Scraping"(scraping with a piece of horn over your back, bringing all the blood to the surface)both of which can be very beneficial but 1)look a little painful and 2)leave you looking like you've just been beaten up.
Upon my arrival the Shifu rearranged his schedule to treat the "Waiguoren"(foreigner). This kind of preferential treatment does happen quite a lot here. Not many foreigners in "Yichang" and people love the opportunity to be with you. I 99% of the time don't mind the inquisitiveness and am always happy to talk. When I have someone with me who can interpret both ways, it's often fun for everyone:-)Nettie came with me and we all had a great laugh with the Shifu who was indeed full of character and stories and very funny. My Chinese can still only pick up parts of information and my vocabulary is limited so when visiting a place like this for the first time, a fluent Chinese/English speaker is a safe option :-)
ANYWAYYYYY The massage started with an apprentice working on my neck and shoulders before the Shifu worked on my back. Yes it did involve the usual hitting and beating (That even happens when they wash your hair in the hairdressers here)but my back feels sooo much better today than yesterday, much less pain and it really wasn't that bad.
It's always interesting to see how different things are here and this was no exception. Many people who do massage here in China are actually blind. This was the case yesterday. They believe they have a gift for this profession because their other senses are so heightened with their lack of sight. Makes sense!
So now I have also found a great place for natural Chinese massage and therapies.
Will I try the Cupping and Scraping? I think so? Some things the Chinese really do exceptionally well and I believe these treatments could be very beneficial...a little painful maybe??? You never know until you try.

Foo Lun Cha

I've decided that it is indeed a useless task trying to forecast Yichang weather...we are back to about 20 degrees and sunshine this week after around 0 degrees and snow last week. Sooooooo....to change the subject, today I went off on another jaunt to give some lessons to another school in Yichang. This time not far away, just over in the city. As part of the "keeping good relationships with other schools" My school put me on loan every now and again, just to give some students and teachers that don't have foreign teachers at their schools a few lessons and a chance to speak with a native English speaker. Today I had two classes (40 kids in each) with some Junior One students. It was VERY HARD WORK!The students at this school only had very, very basic English. They couldn't speak or understand much at all. I often get told "our school(Y.C.F.L.S) is the best, has the best students, has the best teachers, has the best grades, best work ethic" etc etc etc. Today maybe I came to realise that it is infact, Very True! How lucky I am to have such great kids to work with. YES, some days they can be frustrating, but, they are great kids! Even the most troublesome seem to have BIG hearts and are more over excited than naughty. I'm so grateful to have come to "Yichang Foreign Language School."
I must make mention of a funny thing that happened whilst teaching one of the classes at the other school today, which is what inspired the title of this post. One child came up to the front to have a go at the "Taboo game" which I was playing with the kids...His word was "Bread"....I cant remember the taboo word...He desperately started telling his team "foo lun cha, foo lun cha!"Everyone looked puzzled. I said to him "NOOOOO...you can't speak Chinese in this game, ONLY ENGLISH...NO CHINESE!"He looked at me and said "Wo shuode Yingwen" which is "I'm speaking English"
It was then I realised along with everyone else, he was saying "For Lunch, For Lunch"
All everyone could do was laugh :-)The teachers took me out for dinner after classes and we were still all laughing about it. Ahh the joys of teaching English in China!!!

Very COLD!!

The sunny warm pictures around the fountain in Yiling square last Saturday (in my last post),well, I think they've gone for the year now. The weather has turned bitterly cold this week. The forecast is for snow tomorrow night and Monday. The temperature is clocking in around 4 degrees give or take some...down to the minus range at night. 28 degrees last Saturday, I put that at quite a big jump, don't you?

Yiling Square Fountain

I was in "Yiling Square" on Saturday. The weather was stunning and I sat for a while with my Chinese book trying to learn this language which seems equivalent to walking the length of "The Great Wall". I sat with the women doing their knitting and the people playing their card games and even the young couples cleaning each others ears out with ear spoons :-)
Here in Yichang, Yiling Square is a great place to just hang and watch all the different activities that Chinese people like to do. Of an evening, it is full with people dancing, mornings many people exercise there and in general anytime you will find kids playing, skating or whatever the fad game happens to be at the current time. It also has a wonderful fountain that (I think) only goes a couple of times a day on Saturdays (for about 20 minutes)I'm never sure what time of the day and although I've seen it in it's full glory a few times now, I've don't think I've ever had my camera with me at the time and taken pictures of it, but on Saturday I did :-)
Here's some photos for you.

So much excitement with the kids and after it's finished they all love to play where it was spurting ferociously just a minute before.


Here's a short video!

My Little Casserole Dish!

Anyone that knows me also knows I'm not really very domesticated, mostly when it comes to cooking :-)I did make efforts last year (a few times a week) to find some similar foods and cook some similar meals to those I would eat back home in Australia, but this year I seemed to have become more integrated in the Chinese lifestyle and I have been eating mostly Chinese food. I eat at the school food hall quite a lot because my meals are provided for free and as I have mentioned a few times before, the lifestyle here involves much eating out for breakfast, lunch and dinner so restaurant eating is very common and a normal part of life here.
Because of my Stomach cold last week, I decided I had better try and get into a bit of home cooking again, the biggest trouble is that I really don't enjoy cooking very much at all and of course the other trouble is finding the right ingredients.
I decided I wanted to make "Bread Pudding". Whilst I can get butter here, it tastes very unusual and I don't like it very much so I just used Bread, Sultanas, Milk (kind of:), Eggs and Sugar. I searched and searched for some kind of bowl that I would be able to use in my little oven. Because they don't cook with ovens here in China, It was a hard task. I finally found the perfect Casserole type dish that would withstand high temperature and I'm loving it!! My first bread puddings I had to make in some muffin cases that Mum sent over to me, but now the casserole dish makes the perfect bread pudding it even fits perfectly in my little oven.
My little casserole dish has inspired me to greater heights (with some inspirational ideas from my mum) LOOK a "Roast Pork Pot Roast" (kind of :-)Complete with crackling.It must have been tasty because Nettie didn't feel compelled to add from her trusty jar of Chinese "HOT Spicy Relish", which she must keep handy on my shelf for emergencies :-)
Who knows what will be next???
Any ideas gratefully accepted :-)


Bread Pudding

Giving Thanks

I've spent quite a bit of time in the Chinese Hospital again :-( Tuesday I felt so ill that I didn't see, notice or care much about what they said or done or what went on around me. After blood tests etc, I was told "Stomach Cold and a Bacterial infection" hence why I spent the whole previous night with my head in a toilet bowl (that is when my Butt wasn't occupying the space) It really was very nasty, I can't remember a stomach virus that made me feel so unwell..anyway without going into the details to much... I could only just walk on Tuesday and because of this, I ended up on a bed with an antibiotic,saline,glucose drip for three hours (first part of a three day course)The next two days the drip was much quicker only an hour visit each time as I was now stronger and they could feed the drip through more quickly.
The second and third days I got to observe the goings on around me more. People everywhere, A big room for people to sit in and hang their drips up for an hour or so, guys coughing and spluttering with drips in while they still puff on their cigarettes. Girls yelling at their boyfriends (a sign of affection I'm told...apparently shows they care :-)Babies through to old people, all sitting around with drips in their hands. On the third day we walked back to the room where they had been giving me my antibiotics and the room was empty....The twenty or so beds, chairs, patients, Doctors and Nurses....ALL GONE! So for the third day I joined everyone else on the chairs and observed all that I have mentioned. It is very interesting. I have to say I am truly grateful to the hospital and the staff for making me feel better, I really felt so ill and they were very efficient and good. I think good Nurses must be the same the world over, they should be held in very high esteem. Whilst things are different here, they still do the best with what they have and in many situations seem more efficient, especially when you think of the pure number of people they have to deal with everyday.

Sea Change in Xiamen

A week long holiday for the combined celebration of Moon Festival and National Day saw us visit Xiamen for a 6 day change of scenery. I still don't know how they figure that it is a week holiday when we have to work two weekends to have it. Today I'm back to school(Friday) and I have last Mondays classes...tomorrow I have last Tuesdays classes and Sunday I have last Wednesdays classes...Before the holiday I had this Thursdays class on the Saturday and this Friday's class on the Sunday. Then of course this Monday...back to normal...and I have Today again on Monday....DID YOU GET ALL THAT :-)
ANYWAY...for this sacrifice we had a week long break and I went to Xiamen for 6 days with Nettie and her family. We drove to Wuhan (4 Hours) and then a short plane trip to Xiamen for a sea change. The weather reminded me a lot of Perth. Being on the coast it was very windy and warm. We took in the sights of Xiamen, Gulang Yu island and Jimei. Xiamen is infact itself an island that is connected to the mainland by a 5 km long causeway with a train line and footpath.
We visited Nanputuo Buddhist Temple...very, very busy and I couldn't help thinking what a different lifestyle the monks in this temple have compared to the monks in Bodhinyana Monastery back home in W.A.


We went on a two hour boat trip to get a closer look at neighbouring Taiwan (Jinmen Island)...this saw most of the boat load of passengers reaching for the sick bags as the water got more rough...after that we headed to Gulang Yu island...very pretty and interesting. It is full of old colonial style architecture and used to be the home of all the European Consulates. Easy to get lost in the maze of small streets and alleyways everywhere giving much to see and do.
Since I have been in China...I have never seen so many people as I saw throughout our holiday in Xiamen. As they say here "People mountain, people sea". It was also clear though that the locals lived an oceanside lifestyle much the same way as we do when living near the coast in W.A. Of course there are obvious differences but essentially you could feel the same vibe. I enjoyed being near the coast for a while and soaking up the warmth and the sea air.



There are many more photos, some of which are uploaded on my flicker account.. click on flicker link in my blog to see the rest :-)

Up and Over some Hurdles!

Much of my first year in China was spent in a blur of new experiences. This year it certainly feels different. I started learning Chinese before coming to China but have never been very brave about using it (especially around my Chinese friends)This year I've given up on hanging onto that problem somewhat...thrown away some luggage and stepped out :-) I don't like to feel reliant on my Chinese friends and whilst I can often make myself understood...this year I've really made an effort to speak much more... and much more often. The other day was a great achievement for me. First, I did the normal thing and caught the bus downtown...then I topped up my bus card...not just by thrusting the card and the money at the girl but by actually asking her to please put 100 rmb on my bus card...then I went to a small Chinese food stall/shop and ordered "Fried Baozi" Not just by pointing but by asking...and the biggest achievement, my friend rang me and invited me to her apartment...I said "yep great, I'll walk, see you in a while..." BUT...With such a successful run I decided ,what the heck...I'll hail a taxi :-) Believe it or not I rarely take a taxi and on any previous occasions that I have, my friends have waved one down and told the driver to take me home. I stood on the side of the road (being careful not to get taken out by a bus) and with my ever faithful group of Chinese paparazzi curiously watching on, I watched for the little light indicating a vacant taxi and waved him down :-)I told him where I wanted to go and WOW...I actually arrived there. SO GREAT!
I go back to the small Baozi stall more frequently now "Liang fen Zhu rou jian bao" :-)

First Full Week Back at School

So at the end of my first full week back...things certainly feel different. The biggest change is the arrival of a second Foreign English teacher to help lessen my load. Adjusting to having a 19 year old American girl suddenly thrown in the mix...challenging. There are benefits now though, such as my classes are only max of 30 kids per class...AND... I'm teaching all of Junior 1 and half of Junior 2 with no Junior 3 classes. I really enjoy teaching Junior 1 (12 year olds) they are enthusiastic and alot of fun. and Junior 2 (my last years Junior 1's)have only had me as their ESL teacher and we have always got on really well...so for now anyway...I'm finding the kids are really great to teach :-)
My schedule is very different this year. I have two very, very busy days of 6 teaching periods and two days with only two teaching periods and 1 extra day off per week. After the first week...I have to say I prefer it, but I guess a few weeks trial will tell if it will be more or less tiring.
Catching up with all my Chinese English teacher friends is great. The Monday night get together dinner that a group of us have, has been moved to my apartment...Each week a different teacher brings the food and really my apartment is just the place for us to heat it up and sit and eat it.
We had "Teachers Day" on Thursday. I was lucky enough to receive some cards and gifts from some students, many "happy teachers day" greetings all day and then at the school ceremony some flowers and a bonus award for ??? I dunno what???
It's a nice thing to do...fun for me to see...maybe a bit full on for Chinese teachers whose whole day (and many days leading up to it)are spent answering phone and text messages from past students and current students parents wishing them "Happy Teachers Day"
Such a busy week !

These are my teachers day gifts

Ever Changing China

"The only thing certain is that nothing is certain". I think that no truer words can be spoken in China. Everything is always changing...roads, buildings, shops, school schedules :-)It's quite amazing. My first week back at school has only been three lessons due to the the Junior 1's having military training and some kind of E.N.T infection that's rendered me off the spicy food for a while :-(and my J2 classes.
My phobia of all things medical is heightened being here in China because the whole medical system is so different. I faced up though and went to the hospital (no Doctors surgery here)and saw firstly a G.P and the blood test guy... (Check up and blood tests, in and out with blood test results in my hands within 15 minutes)Next over to the E.N.T ward to see a E.N.T doctor...(just to be sure all is ok)Well she took a huge lump of wax out of my ear and gave me the thumbs up. Then today for the "to be sure, to be sure" of to the "Mouth Doctor"(turns out that this was another name for Dentist...oh and this was also in the hospital)He checked and said apart from some inflammation in my throat and mouth area, all is fine! BTW when I sat up from the dentist's chair I had a crowd of about 10 dental nurses all watching...lol.
I have been terrified about going to hospital here...my first visit (when I first arrived in Yichang) was very unsettling for me...but I do have to say...That whilst it doesn't look as flash as some of our medical facilities....It's very, very cheap (my school actually covers my medical costs but it is only about 6 yuan to see each doctor) and it's very, very quick.
If you can get over the fact that the doctor may be smoking his ciggies when giving you a consult....It's not so bad :-)
In Australia blood test results....days....Waiting to see a specialist....weeks or months and Dentist....VERY EXPENSIVE!
So I have to say that my phobia about Chinese hospitals is changing also....not nearly as scary as the first time.

Back in Yichang...what a great holiday back home!

My 8 weeks holiday back home in Australia flew past very quickly and I find myself back in a steamy hot Yichang, settling back to the Chinese lifestyle. I haven't blogged because I haven't had time. My last 3 weeks back home were full of activity as I tried to show Nettie as much of my lifestyle as I could. We really had a great time and she fitted in so easily. Because her English is so great and she is so easy to get along with...it's easy to forget that she hadn't experienced the western lifestyle before and was seeing, tasting and experiencing many things for the first time in her life. We really had the most amazing time and not only myself but my family all feel very pleased to have her in our life. Between us we gathered hundreds of photos...these are just some of them.

Whale watching cruise in Albany

Tree top walk in Walpole

With friends from my hockey team in York


Busselton...It's always so beautiful
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Getting a cuddle with a joey (baby Kangaroo)

With my Mum,Dad,Jess (sister in law)and Geoff (brother)

More Family : Lin, John, Mum, Dad, Stuart, Harry and Emma

Kings Park

For all those who we just didn't have time to catch up with ...I'm sorry. It really is amazing how quickly time goes past.

Lucky to love and be loved

Sometimes I think it's important to stop and realise how lucky we are. I have loving parents and friends that I share very special bonds with. We all love to feel loved but an even more amazing feeling is being able to return love unconditionally and do and give as much as you can to make others feel loved and add to making others lives feel full and happy.

With a few weeks left here in Western Australia before I head back for another 10 month run in China, I'm filled with a mixture of emotions. I'm extremely excited that my closest of friends from China accepted the invitation to join me here in Australia for the last few weeks of my holiday. I will get the chance to give back some of the amazing generosity she shows to me when I am in her home country. For someone who has not experienced a western country, I think Australia will be an amazing adventure for her. It will be a lot of fun for me as well as Nettie, introducing her to my hometown, different foods and showing her the sights. Her English is very, very good and I know she will value this opportunity to be in a completely English speaking environment and learn so much from being here.
With the arrival of my dear friend comes the reality of leaving my parents here again in just a few weeks time. I love and miss them very much when I am in China but the support that they always show for whatever I choose to do has got me to where I am now and I hold on to the fact that they want me to experience as much of life as I can and never hold myself back.
I will fly back to China with my friend which is comforting and I wonder how different things will be. Last year I was flying into the unknown..."what would China be like, would the job be o.k?, how would the people treat me? would I make friends?" Obviously all these things made a big enough impact on my life for me to return again. This time it's not unknown...I have learnt much of the language and made great friends. The school is very good to me and I enjoy teaching the kids.
How will this impact on my second year in China? Will I be more adventurous and brave :-)Generally feel more comfortable and at ease in such a different lifestyle?
It's all part of life's big learning curve :-) The amazing thing about loving people unconditionally is the biggest buzz that you get when you give to please and how somehow, it works around in a complete circle of giving and more giving, which comes back to you ten fold...and so on and so on..

Strange But True!

Tonight (with thanks to a Mozilla Firefox add on) I sat down and watched live streaming of CCTV 5 (China Sports channel)on TV-Fox. I made the experience even more like my past 11 months in China, by eating a bowl of instant noodles whilst I watched :-)

York Rainbow

York Rainbow, on top of Mount Brown, originally uploaded by sooy2.

I took Daisy for a walk around on Mount Brown yesterday...The weather has been sprinkling us with rain on and off and we were lucky enough to catch this rainbow whilst we were uo top...very pretty!

Revamp

Hmmm not sure if I like the new look blog page yet??

Stop whinging people and start thanking !

People often like to complain....whinge, whinge, whinge. Sometimes I wish I had a voice recorder going so people can hear themselves back. The other thing I notice a lot is how people love to discuss tragedy and bad news... I think there should be a channel on T.V and radio dedicated to good stuff, providing a tonic or remedy to help even out the flow of bad news that we are flooded with.
Anyway I have decided to write about a couple of things that I am truly thankful for.

1 : I have been meaning to mention this for a while.... SKYPE : Thank you, thank you a billion times thank you. SKYPE keeps me in free regular contact with my family and friends by text, voice and video (and cheap phone calls and text messages to phones). The world is a much smaller place thanks to you. Living so far away from my loved ones becomes much easier with regular contact.

and today

DELL COMPUTERS : I have had Dell computers for a few years now and never had any problems. My last laptop is still under warranty (just) and it has been playing up quite a bit lately. After talking with technicians and being guided through some very useful ways to update, diagnose and fix problems...they decided to have a look for themselves. They sent a technician to my house and he completely pulled my laptop to pieces, put in a brand new motherboard, fan and heat sensor, sync thingy?
He has also ordered new speakers as mine don't seem to be playing loud enough and someone will come again on Monday to fit them.
So to Dell....BIG THANKS !

My World...where have I been?

Today I thought I'd have some fun with google maps and start adding the places in the world that I have lived and visited. Its a lot of fun and as you can see I have included the map on my blog. If you click on "My World" it will open the full map showing that I have lived and travelled in England, Ireland, China and Australia. I really should start putting the many places I've been to in my home state of W.A but there are so many I haven't got around to them all yet. Next I'll try and work out how to add the photo's to the locations :-)

Classic Comment

I guess with me home for a while my dad is feeling a little out numbered yet again. Yes we can be known to give him a hard time but it is usually for his own good as he is frequently getting himself into trouble :-) He has been trying to find something to pin on me since I have returned ranging from "We use much more toilet paper now your back" and the other day whist driving to Northam "accussing me of eating all the biscuits" Why I felt the urge to defend my 1 biscuit a day I dont know :-) ANYWAY...Mum piped up with "HEY so who's been eating all the biscuits while Sue was in China....People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones". Dads quick reply was "THEY SHOULD WHEN THEY WANNA GET OUT! Poor Dad lol.

Transition

I'm back in China for my third year, time flies! My 5 weeks back in Australia went quickly and it was wonderful to be with my family. We spent lots of quality time and had some great days out at places like the Perth Zoo and Kings Park. Lots of shopping with mum and meeting my new niece Mathilda was a joy. Hey I didn't realise my Brother could cook such a great cake:-) Thanks...delicious!

Playing Golf with Jude and Super Golf with Anthony....very cool.

I miss you all and it's really great to see everyone, the big family get together gave me a chance to catch up with the just about everyone. I haven't had time to blog as three days after I got back here, I headed to Shanghai for about 13 days. 24 hours each way train ride, 3 days in total at World expo and then time checking out the wonderful city and hanging out with Nettie, Carol and Netties sister Helen.. Didn't have my laptop with me...so just catching up now.

The wise words of Lao Tsu

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Lao Tsu (Daoism) and Buddhism etc...but in Australia not so many people know of Lao Tsu...so imagine my suprise when in my little home town of York today I came across this sign outside of "The York (Palace) Hotel"...Such wise words. Are they trying to use some kind of reverse psychology to advertise "Black Forest Cake" lol.

Nice to catch up!

It's nice to be home to catch up with people...

Here's Anthony and his girlfriend Cara, visiting for the afternoon...


This is Mum and Dad having lunch today in Northam before shopping.

It seems much more difficult to blog in Australia...I don't know what to write? I guess because I'm so used to life here.

Back in Western Australia

So....here I am back in Australia! I've renewed my contract at YCFLS and before I start the new term, I have eight weeks holiday back here in W.A.
Has it changed? No
Have I changed? Yes
I can do the usual ESL teachers blog about living in China and missing Milk, Cheese, good Bread, good Chocolate, Steak, Meat without little bits of bone in it etc etc etc....and Yes my taste buds are really enjoying the rich tastes of being back home...BUT... I really don't find that it is such a big deal for me. Of course I miss my Mum, Dad and Daisy and it's fantastic to see them.
What have I noticed the most since returning to Aus? The absolute vivid bright colours of the world around me here, the fresh air with a hint of eucalyptus scent in it, the magpies singing their songs along with many other birds, the lack of people, cars, apartments etc but also... too many overindulgent people, too many people with zilch tolerance and patience, too much of everything!!!
What do I miss about Yichang already? My friends, the kids, the tasty food, the lifestyle, my apartment, my quiet time and CCTV 5.
I have noticed that in China I don't have access to much in the way of food that I'm familiar with, clothes (that fit me) and everyday luxuries of home...BUT I want for very little in China, I don't sit at home wishing I had all the so called "good things".
Since arriving home I'm finding that I'm feeling a little overloaded in English. I've had no English TV, friends etc in Yichang and suddenly here back home, I know everything that is being said, I hear all the bad news reports that the media love to drown us with, I have to listen to and answer to everything and everyone. It's very tiring!

Home for the holiday!

Ok so I'm a week behind in blogging yet again...I'm back in Australia for my Summer/Winter holiday and the week leading up to my return was chaotically busy. I went to Changyang No1 Senior Middle School to give the kids some English lessons and a demonstration on Aural English teaching to the Senior English teachers from the district... very busy!
Here's some links to check out what kind of things I get up to :-)I just hit the google translate button for you... we all know that Chinese just doesn't translate so well....but I think you'll get the idea... lol

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&langpair=auto|en&u=http://www.cyyz.com.cn/uploadnews/124556602824685.php%3Fid%3D397&rurl=translate.google.com

http://www.cyyz.com.cn/uploadnews/124545980018578.php?id=395

http://translate.google.com/translate?langpair=auto|en&u=http://www.ycfls.com/newsInfo.aspx?pkId=1973

Chexi

Not too far from my apartment, this side of town, is a place called "Chexi". Yesterday we took a ride out there to have a look. The weather here now is very hot but despite the high temperature we still had fun. It is yet another picturesque place in Yichang. Lots of water, green trees and plants, Butterflies, old machinery and Chinese tourist gifts. It's kinda strange for me being so far away from the ocean. Around here there are so many mountains... Mountains like I have never seen before. I don't think I have ever been this far away from the sea ....ever...

步行街 Bu Xing Jie (Walking Street)

Walking Street has really turned into a cool place to hang out. Lots to see and do, many places to eat and plenty of shops to buy cool stuff.
I had another Chinese language debate...when I asked what "Walking Street" was called in Chinese. The answer...."Bù Xíng Jiē" to me that means "Not good Street"(不行） but the characters are different and even though it sounds the same it actually means "Walking Street" The picture above is Carol and myself near the new sign at one of the entries to the street..showing its name in Chinese characters.