China Travels | Phil & Sabine's Excellent Adventure
November - Still pushing hard!
1st-5th November
Following on from the festivities on the Halloween Party on the 1st November we were invited by a couple of Filipinos to commemorate the All Saints Festival. This Catholic event is celebrated every year in the Philippines as mark of respect to those who have died. Families visit the graves of the recently deceased which they decorate with candles, flowers, food and precious items. The cemeteries can be very crowded during this occasion. Family members will go to the cemetery and stay there for almost the whole day. Sometimes, people even sleep inside the cemetery and spend the night there. The cemetery is bright and crowded during that time so it is not that spooky to stay in overnight. We obviously didn’t go to the cemetery but we did light some candles and offer some food to those deceased and ate some traditional festival food such as black sticky rice and battered vegetables.
School is pretty quiet the first week of November as all students are either revising for their mid-term examinations or are actually doing the actual test itself. The busier the teachers and students are, the less busy we are!!
Our tap is leaking dripping and wasting water. One day I turned the tap off and the threads went which meant it was impossible to turn the tap off at all. The tap just kept on turning and turning. Water was gushing out. I contacted the school and explained the situation. A few hours later, a “workman” came with his hammer. When he realised that a hammer could not solve the problem he said he would return later with a new tap. We never saw him again! In the meantime, we managed to stem the flow of water by tightening some wire around the tap so at least in this province of low rainfall, we were saving water. A few days later another workman arrived. This time with a new tap in hand. Of course this tap was the wrong size and so he said that he would have to buy another one. We made him promise to come back and he was good to his word. A few hours later, he returned but had quite a job removing the old tap, particularly as in the flat there is no stop tap to turn the water off. When he had finally finished, he looked as if he had been hosed down by about 10 firemen and the kitchen was swimming in a couple of inches of water. The situation was quite comical and it was quite difficult not to laugh. We thanked the man and gave him some “lucky” English money and he went away quite happily.
We don’t celebrate Fireworks Night this year. Every day in Xifeng you hear firecrackers or fire works so there does not seem too much point!!
Following on from the festivities on the Halloween Party on the 1st November we were invited by a couple of Filipinos to commemorate the All Saints Festival. This Catholic event is celebrated every year in the Philippines as mark of respect to those who have died. Families visit the graves of the recently deceased which they decorate with candles, flowers, food and precious items. The cemeteries can be very crowded during this occasion. Family members will go to the cemetery and stay there for almost the whole day. Sometimes, people even sleep inside the cemetery and spend the night there. The cemetery is bright and crowded during that time so it is not that spooky to stay in overnight. We obviously didn’t go to the cemetery but we did light some candles and offer some food to those deceased and ate some traditional festival food such as black sticky rice and battered vegetables.
School is pretty quiet the first week of November as all students are either revising for their mid-term examinations or are actually doing the actual test itself. The busier the teachers and students are, the less busy we are!!
Our tap is leaking dripping and wasting water. One day I turned the tap off and the threads went which meant it was impossible to turn the tap off at all. The tap just kept on turning and turning. Water was gushing out. I contacted the school and explained the situation. A few hours later, a “workman” came with his hammer. When he realised that a hammer could not solve the problem he said he would return later with a new tap. We never saw him again! In the meantime, we managed to stem the flow of water by tightening some wire around the tap so at least in this province of low rainfall, we were saving water. A few days later another workman arrived. This time with a new tap in hand. Of course this tap was the wrong size and so he said that he would have to buy another one. We made him promise to come back and he was good to his word. A few hours later, he returned but had quite a job removing the old tap, particularly as in the flat there is no stop tap to turn the water off. When he had finally finished, he looked as if he had been hosed down by about 10 firemen and the kitchen was swimming in a couple of inches of water. The situation was quite comical and it was quite difficult not to laugh. We thanked the man and gave him some “lucky” English money and he went away quite happily.
We don’t celebrate Fireworks Night this year. Every day in Xifeng you hear firecrackers or fire works so there does not seem too much point!!
6th -13th November
On Saturday we do our final rural school training. As is usually the custom, the leaders take us out for lunch and feed us until we are fit to burst. Chinese hospitality is such that you almost have to over eat before they feel that they have been good hosts. They are usually very persuasive and so often we leave restaurants rubbing our tummy and wishing that we had not eaten that last dish. We returned at 2.30 to complete the afternoon session only to be sitting in a restaurant three hours later –eating more food. We weren’t really hungry but that was not the issue. It’s a fine line between being polite and not offending your hosts. Not sure if I have quite got the balance right yet!
On Saturday we do our final rural school training. As is usually the custom, the leaders take us out for lunch and feed us until we are fit to burst. Chinese hospitality is such that you almost have to over eat before they feel that they have been good hosts. They are usually very persuasive and so often we leave restaurants rubbing our tummy and wishing that we had not eaten that last dish. We returned at 2.30 to complete the afternoon session only to be sitting in a restaurant three hours later –eating more food. We weren’t really hungry but that was not the issue. It’s a fine line between being polite and not offending your hosts. Not sure if I have quite got the balance right yet!
Time for a haircut. I’d been putting it off for long enough. I decided to take a friend with me this time in order to minimise the anguish I feel every time I visit the hairdresser’s. Thankfully, all he did was cut my hair. No hard sell on me getting a perm or having a different colour. He did, however, wash my hair, dry it and then cut it. I still find that a little odd, but I am not going to argue with a man who has scissors in his hands.
Our Chinese lessons are going quite well and we feel that we are making some progress. Our biggest failing is that we don’t learn our vocabulary as thoroughly as we ought. We are not the most diligent students!
On Saturday night we were invited by some colleagues to eat the new pizza restaurant in town called “Happy’s Pizzas”. It was a nice evening and the pizzas weren’t too bad at all. I still think pizza shouldn’t be eaten with chopsticks……
Our Chinese lessons are going quite well and we feel that we are making some progress. Our biggest failing is that we don’t learn our vocabulary as thoroughly as we ought. We are not the most diligent students!
On Saturday night we were invited by some colleagues to eat the new pizza restaurant in town called “Happy’s Pizzas”. It was a nice evening and the pizzas weren’t too bad at all. I still think pizza shouldn’t be eaten with chopsticks……
In an effort to extend our repertoire of Chinese dishes, we arranged with a colleague at the weekend to learn how to make some homemade noodles. Under her watchful eye, we prepared a few dishes; huang gua shala (cucumber salad), xi hongshi he chao jidan (an egg and tomato dish) and jia jiang mian (a meat noodle dish). Having only one hot plate is a bit of a disadvantage but on the whole the dishes turned out pretty well.
This week we also experimented with our own “houguo” - hotpot. Again pretty good for a first attempt. This is something we would like to eat in the UK but I don’t think it will be so easy to get all the ingredients. I guess we can always improvise.
This week we also experimented with our own “houguo” - hotpot. Again pretty good for a first attempt. This is something we would like to eat in the UK but I don’t think it will be so easy to get all the ingredients. I guess we can always improvise.
Most weeks I visit a primary school as a follow up to the training I did with some teachers last term. I usually observe the teachers teach, do a model lesson myself and provide any other support that they may need. It’s a pleasure to go into a Chinese classroom of any age. The children are always so well behaved and calm despite there being sometimes up to 70 students in one class. Even if the lessons are not up to scratch, the students still sit quietly. Rarely do you see any classroom behaviour issues. Here the “disruptive students” fall asleep. Quite a contrast to the west!
14th-21st November
At the weekend we went for a meal with some friends to a recently opened “restaurant street”. With so many restaurants to choose from we decided to choose one depending on how busy it was. Not bad criteria, I think. We ended up going for a meal in a “communist” themed restaurant. All the waitresses wore traditional Chairman Mao uniforms and caps. At first I felt a little uneasy but soon relaxed when I tasted how good the food was. The piece de resistance was a cabbage dish, allegedly a dish preferred by the man himself.
At the weekend we went for a meal with some friends to a recently opened “restaurant street”. With so many restaurants to choose from we decided to choose one depending on how busy it was. Not bad criteria, I think. We ended up going for a meal in a “communist” themed restaurant. All the waitresses wore traditional Chairman Mao uniforms and caps. At first I felt a little uneasy but soon relaxed when I tasted how good the food was. The piece de resistance was a cabbage dish, allegedly a dish preferred by the man himself.
On Saturday we went for another bike ride, something we have not done much of since coming back after the summer. It never ceases to amaze just how quickly the city is changing. Everywhere you look there is evidence of the old and the new. We have only been here a short time and often we will joke and say “There used to be fields here”, when we look down a new road that has recently been built or a newly erected housing estate. But, there really did use to be fields there, and it was only a matter of months ago. I wonder how this is affecting the older generation’s psyche to know that at the back of their house where they once grew corn, there is now a dual carriageway. This rapid urban development I’m sure has its casualties.
22nd – 30th November
I continue to visit primary schools as part of the follow up to last semester’s training. Sometimes, I’m really quite pleased with what I see; teachers are more thoughtful and adventurous with their teaching and the classes are more student-centred than before the training. It would be great if it was always like this, but of course this is not always the case. This week I saw what was quite an unusual lesson for China. It was a grade 3 class (students are about 8 years old) and it started really well with a game to engage the students. The second activity was also a game but unfortunately, it was used to review language which the children did not know. This was when the lesson started to go quite wrong and unfortunately never quite recovered. It was like being in an English classroom!! The children lacked focus, had poor concentration and found it more interesting to turn round and look at me. One boy in particular with a shaved head, no front teeth and a ruddy face thought it was hilarious to turn round a blow kisses at me! I was unsure what to do. My initial reaction was to laugh but I quickly realised that this would not help matters. After the second time, I indicated to him to turn round and face the front which he did. Thereafter, I avoided eye contact which seemed to work. The teacher, however, was in denial and continued teaching her lesson to the few students who were still listening, mentally blocking out the classroom management issues! After the lesson the students then mobbed me for an autograph. You may think having 40 8 year olds screaming at you and pushing each other to get to you first is not frightening, but believe me when I say it is!
I continue to visit primary schools as part of the follow up to last semester’s training. Sometimes, I’m really quite pleased with what I see; teachers are more thoughtful and adventurous with their teaching and the classes are more student-centred than before the training. It would be great if it was always like this, but of course this is not always the case. This week I saw what was quite an unusual lesson for China. It was a grade 3 class (students are about 8 years old) and it started really well with a game to engage the students. The second activity was also a game but unfortunately, it was used to review language which the children did not know. This was when the lesson started to go quite wrong and unfortunately never quite recovered. It was like being in an English classroom!! The children lacked focus, had poor concentration and found it more interesting to turn round and look at me. One boy in particular with a shaved head, no front teeth and a ruddy face thought it was hilarious to turn round a blow kisses at me! I was unsure what to do. My initial reaction was to laugh but I quickly realised that this would not help matters. After the second time, I indicated to him to turn round and face the front which he did. Thereafter, I avoided eye contact which seemed to work. The teacher, however, was in denial and continued teaching her lesson to the few students who were still listening, mentally blocking out the classroom management issues! After the lesson the students then mobbed me for an autograph. You may think having 40 8 year olds screaming at you and pushing each other to get to you first is not frightening, but believe me when I say it is!
At the weekend we were invited to a friend’s hometown in the countryside. It was a beautiful winter’s day; cold but with sunshine and blue skies. Having stopped en route to take some pictures of the dramatic mountain scenery and to take a look at a local market, we arrived about two and a half hours later to be greeted by mum, dad , 90 year old grandma and Dian Dian the dog. The Chinese are very hospitable by nature and shortly after arriving, we were sitting down to a spread of houlou mian (noodle soup), mantou (steamed bread), an array of cold salads and yumi jiu (sweet corn porridge). In the afternoon, we went for a walk in the countryside to look at the caves where families previously lived. The views were spectacular. Returning back, we stopped off at the local primary school where the children were having extra lessons (on a Sunday!) As is often the case in the countryside, the children were literally speechless at seeing us. Not many foreigners pass through this way!!
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