All the latest

Been so busy living I haven't felt like blogging so I'll try and do a quick report to catch up. Thanks to an Easter parcel from Mum and Dad I had some glorious Australian Chocolate and got to give Carol and Annie an Easter egg hunt. The kids really love trying the western cultures and look forward to Easter, Christmas and even Mothers day gave Carol heaps of joy this year. We organised a Mothers Day cake from Eliville bakery and I took Carol to buy a little treat for her mum.

One of my new favourite things to do is a Saturday morning walk through Bingjiang Park. Moli and I catch the ferry across to the city side and then take a stroll along side the river, through the park to Netties apartment(about 50 minutes). In the few years I have been here I have only really been to the main areas of the park, but since walking along much of it's length, I have found it to be so beautiful and very relaxing. It brings me back to normality and lets me see many of the varied and different activities that make China such an interesting place. People are busy all along the park exercising, doing martial arts, Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Kite flying, playing Badminton, singing, playing traditional instruments, playing cards, Chinese Chess, drinking green tea.....The list goes on and on.

For something a bit different, there is a new scheme here which requests teachers to do some home visits to some students homes a few times a year, to build the relationship with the students, teachers and families.
The other night I attended a student/parent dinner and after that tagged along for a home visit to one of my students homes. Very, very interesting.

Sunny picnic on Yangtze River Bank

Banks of the Yangtze, Yichang

A couple of days off while the kids take their mid term exams and some beautiful warm, sunny weather made up my mind to make some ham, cheese, lettuce and mayo sandwiches and a flask of coffee and take a short stroll down to the river behind my apartment. 

Very relaxing and interesting to watch all the boats heading down stream loaded with coal, sand and all kinds of different cargo.

The countryside around this area of Yichang really is quite pretty, I'm guessing these cute kids have a dinner appointment tonight though. Spit roasted goat is very popular in these parts.

On the way back we happened upon a group of children doing a favourite Chinese activity for this time of the year, "Kite Flying". My friends here are oftened amazed to hear that I have actually flown kites before and people in western countries also enjoy this pastime...anytime of the year! I was telling them about the stunt kites and things that are around now...they are always amazed and suprised.

Enjoyable afternoon :-)

Now back to lesson planning...oh well!

Smart Board, Smart classroom

This year I was lucky enough to be given my own classroom to teach from (instead of going around to 22 different classes) and this semester I have been really really lucky and had a smart board installed in the classroom. The picture above just looks like a normal black board right?
But look

Fire up the console and slide open the board and TADAA! an interactive touch screen smart board.

Classroom looks a little dark because I pulled the curtains whilst we watched a DVD today.
The next picture is the control desk and looking up to the back of the class where there is still an old blackboard.

Even a microphone pack to  save your voice if you have a noisy class.

Ahhhhh really so cool.

Mass disruption destruction

So Dad, you'll be pleased to know that they are rebuilding Jiangnan road. I know how you love so much taking the number 27 bus, with it's rock hard suspension over the crater ridden road...but next time you may have to settle for a smoother ride. I don't think they will upgrade our wonderful 27's but they are upgrading the road. Check it out, You wouldn't believe the disruption and noise that we have to suffer before we see the benefits. They decided to start right outside our school.
From this next photo you can see the trees have also gone, I have heard to make way  for running the power underground.

You  can imagine what Friday afternoons are like when the kids go home from school.

Still exciting though....a new road....YAY! 

xiao Mo, not so xiao now :-)

So xiao Moli is not so xiao anymore. She is over 10 months old weighs about 3.5 kilos and is an absolute delight. I guess she still is a small dog but compared to the tiny runt of the litter I bought home...she is considerably much larger. She is a  content dog who loves her toys and LOVES to eat. On the days when I must work long hours I always return to see her toys stockpiled on her mat or beanbag, she obviously plays a lot when I'm out. This past week I have had a stomach bug, much better now, but the days I spent in bed, I could hear her throwing her toys around and playing on the beanbag...obviously does this when I am out also.  I wish I had even half of her energy levels.

We have to play this above throw the toys game many times a day...Even her daily walks, running in the school playground or playing crazily with other doggy friends don't wear her out.

怎么办，没办法！

The beautiful warmer weather shone through today. Today is "Womens Day" and all women teachers at our school were given the afternoon off, so there was time to take the dog for a walk and enjoy the warmth. I also parked myself on the window seat in my bedroom, in the sun and had a coffee and studied Chinese language for an hour or so. This semester has been so busy it's difficult to find time to do anything much. It was refreshing this morning to speak to a couple of Junior 3's (who constantly complain to me how much work they have to do...all students complain about this here) but these two girls greeted me with a warm smile and whilst they said they are very busy, they feel happy and not stressed, even though this semester will decide which senior high school they will go to. Here in China it starts from kindy...If you don't get your child into a good kindy, hard for them to get into a good primary school, then hard for them to get into a good middle school, then senior school, then university....it's a big problem.
Being here in China though the changes are occurring every minute of everyday and changes will already start to take place next semester. The girls today gave me a refreshing answer saying you can't look at the negative and must see the positive, no point in being stressed and unhappy.
The kids here do have to work so hard but constantly complaining can't help them. I too work extremely hard and this semester have 22 classes per week, Monday and Tuesday consuming 14 periods of that week between them, it's exhausting, but Is there any point in complaining, definitely not here...没办法 ! So if you can't change it, why suffer by making yourself unhappy. It's not the thing or the situation that makes you unhappy, it's how you think or view that thing or situation that has the ability to make you feel one way or the other.

励志警句

I love this one,

"It's imperfection that is the cause of beauty"
Ajahn Brahm