December 05, 2005
Dumpling Party
Yesterday afternoon we had some mates around for a few beers and a feed. As we are terrible cooks we took the forethought of preparing the food then handing the job of cooking it over to our guests. Sly...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 03:39 PM |
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December 03, 2005
Opera You Zhu
Last night we had a pleasant surprise. We could hear opera coming from the little village right outside the school gate. What I had previously thought to be a communal toilet turned out to be a community hall in...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 09:47 AM |
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November 29, 2005
Er Zheng
Er Zheng has quickly became a good friend. Wang Dan introduced us a few weeks ago and we seem to spend most weekends with him. He can't speak English although this does not seem to matter. His nickname comes from...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 10:03 AM |
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November 27, 2005
Steering Wheel
What would you do if the steering wheel of the moving car you were travelling in was passed to you? Yep, that's right, on Sunday on the way home from Jin Ken the steering wheel fell off and Er Zhen...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 09:28 AM |
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Jin Ken
On Sunday we went to another little village, Jin Ken. Jin Ken is part way to Lishui and is also Jimmy's home town. His grandmother is not well so he has been making regular trips home. (Grandparents do a lot...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 09:20 AM |
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November 26, 2005
Wang Dan's Uncle
On Saturday night we were invited to Wang Dan's home. She lives with her uncle in downtown Qingtian. They had prepared a large dinner and everyone was having a great time. The most distressing thing for me when we go...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 09:35 AM |
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November 15, 2005
Peter and Xue Fen
Peter is an old friend from 2003. We met him in a hot pot restaurant in 2003 with a gathering of his police friends. Over time language barriers were overcome with beer and we catch up normally once a month....Read this update
Posted by Jo at 09:54 AM |
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November 14, 2005
Ze Ya
Yesterday we went to the countryside with Wang Dan and her friends Er Zhen and Bu Ping. Ze Ya is Er Zhen's hometown in Wenzhou county, about an hour and a half from here. It's 'famous' for making the...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 05:41 PM |
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November 13, 2005
Long Dan Shan
Recently we've been catching up with some primary school English teachers. These guys generally go camping on the weekends, but as I have most of my classes on the weekends, I've been unable to go along. Wang Dan and I...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 05:45 PM |
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November 03, 2005
You Zhu
Now uni is over, I've thrown myself into visiting friends and schools. Wang Dan invited me to her class to have a lesson, which was a lot different to the 'come to my school and play' invitation we got a...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 05:52 PM |
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September 21, 2005
Tian Yu Village
My Dad came for a visit and made it perfectly clear he did not want to travel everywhere, just to see the way we live and catch up with us. So we didn't visit any large cities, we stayed entirely...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 10:19 AM |
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September 18, 2005
Mid Autumn Day
Mid Autumn Day is my favourite festival here. This year Mr Fish invited us to his home to join his family for a feast....Read this update
Posted by Jo at 10:11 AM |
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September 09, 2005
Calligraphy Lesson
I had my first shufa lesson today with Wang Wei Hong. It was great. I learnt some more Chinese culture and some abstract words. I can now say the four principles of Chinese handwriting are brush, ink, paper and stone....Read this update
Posted by Jo at 03:54 PM |
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September 07, 2005
Father's Day
My best friend here is Wang Wei Hong, she is an art teacher at school and can't speak much English yet we get along well and have a good laugh at each others expense. Her husband is one of 'the...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 10:19 PM |
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The Men
To be honest, the weather in Qingtian has been a bit rough lately either stinking hot or blowing a gale or raining or flooding. An amazing attribute of the Chinese is they rarely let these things get them down. The...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 10:10 PM |
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September 02, 2005
Under the Bridge
It's just occurred to me that we often talk about going under the bridge for beers and some people must think this sounds a little strange. In Summer they have an open air restaurant under the bridge which opens daily...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 11:10 PM |
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Another typhoon
School has been cancelled for 6 days whilst we brace for another typhoon (well two really). The first one crossed the land in the province south of us in the wee hours this morning, we lost power for about 12...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 10:54 PM |
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Freckles
I'm not quite sure what is going on around here. Either I am more comfortable than I used to be with people staring and gawking at me or people are less frightened of dealing with foreigners. I was at the...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 10:43 PM |
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August 19, 2005
Ghost Festival
The Ghost Festival is a traditional Chinese festival held on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month. People celebrate this festival by commemorating their ancestors. Fake money is burned and paper lanterns are sailed down rivers. The idea behind...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 06:36 AM |
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August 08, 2005
Super Gran
Since the typhoon we have had constant rain and been remaining pretty much indoors. The Ou Jiang River has swollen and our favourite place for drinking beers is currently underwater. So alas Trev has been taking some time out and...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 08:09 PM |
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August 06, 2005
Typhoon Matsa
It seems the weather everywhere is turning pear shaped. Only a month ago the same coastline was devastated by Typhoon Haiting, we are now awaiting the arrival of Typhoon Matsa. Matsa is due to cross the coastline between Wenling and...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 11:08 AM |
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International Beer Festival
Whilst searching for information about Typhoon Matsa I came across this story. It seems as a prelude and promotion of the upcoming beer festival in the northern city of Harbin they are replacing the water in a fountain with...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 11:03 AM |
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July 30, 2005
Sleeping on tables amongst other things
The rude shock of being back in China came this morning after a night of sleeping on a bed as hard as a table. Crooked neck, light beaming through the window and not being able to drink straight from the...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 06:27 PM |
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Finally Arrived
I finally arrived in Qingtian after short stops in Brunei, Hong Kong and Guangzhou. Let's just say Chinese road conditions have not improved nor have the calibre of vehicles. The 3 hour trip from Kowloon to Guangzhou took six. A...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 06:20 PM |
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July 12, 2005
Return to Qingtian
After 5 months apart I'm returning to China to be with Trev for 6 months and he is returning to Qingtian to work. It couldn't of worked out any better. The 5 months in Australia at uni have been alright,...Read this update
Posted by Jo at 08:44 AM |
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