Thursday, April 27, 2006
Sister, Parents and other stuff
Hi there
Sorry for being so quiet recently, we've just been busy doing other things.
It is a long time since we last blogged and quite a few things have happened. Esther has left and gone back to the UK. My parents came for a weekend, which was great to see them but far too short. They then left, and finally we went to Sanya.
Esther's last week or so here was a bit of a blur, rushing around making
sure she has done everything she wanted to do, plus it didn't help that Hannah was very ill with food poisoning and a cold and evntually had to go to hospital (their version of the doctors) to get fixed. She even had to show her poo to lots of people before a diagnosis of food poisoning could be made - great medical skills their doctor-bods. Esther also took up kung fu - something which I have been trying to continue, but with limited success due to me being so busy all the time. The last day she was here was very manic, with dresses being made, meals being had and goodbyes being said. And before we knew it she was gone - her visit went by so quickly. Then, that weekend my folks arrived after spending a week in Beijing. My folks being my folks were completely exhausted after trying to do too much stuff (and also after lugging their own food round with them it seems - the perils of an organic wheat-free diet). A teacher friend of one of the Americans here had arranged a day's outing to some small villages for my parents and us. We began the trip not knowing what to expect, but it turned out to be truly excellent, visiting some very interesting old farming villages - some buildings still had pictures of Mao painted on the walls and remnants of the farming quota leader board which had to be filled in to make sure all the farmers were pulling their weight. It was fascinating and when Hannah gets round to it she will post some photos.
The next day we went for a wander round the Portuguese quarter of old Haikou to show the folks a bit of the city. They loved it, since it gave them a real insight into a more typical side of China, something that Beijing, their previous city visited certainly does not give. Sadly, almost as soon as my parents visit had begun, it ended, and they left the next day.
The following weekend we went to Sanya so Hannah and I could relax after four hectic weeks of being visited by members of the family. The weather was absolutely fabulous, topped off by some cracking waves on the beach allowing us to go body-surfing crazy, something I had not done since I was a little boy with my dad. Unfortunately the body surfing proved too much for my supposedly water-proof factor 50 suncream and I got sunburnt again. I was so adamant that I wouldn't get burnt this time as well, grrrr.
And that is about it. I have missed loads of stuff out, but I thought I should give a brief update on what's going on with us. The weather here is now pretty much roasting all the time (it is about 32 degrees in the shade, nearer 40 in the sun). Annoyingly our sun tans are probably worse than the tan Esther managed to obtain in the four weeks she was here - we can't figure out what we are doing wrong. So don't expect us to be too brown when we get back (in just under three months now - wowzer, how time flies).
Oh yeah, one little side-note about Chinese build quality. We recently had to buy a new DVD player after our old one (bought when we first arrived) finally decided to stop playing DVDs altogether. We went out and bought one for 300RMB - about £25. It looked very fancy - had a glowing blue light like yours Emma H and claimed to support loads of features. After one day's use it had completely died, nothing worked at all. So, a little miffed, we took it back to get a replacement. The new one lasted about one week - before the picture started going a very odd colour and lines appeared all over the place. So we took that one back and had to pay an extra 100RMB to get an apparently more reliable model. Talking to my students, it seems that you can't get a decent DVD player from a Chinese company. You have to buy a Japanese brand or similar, and hence pay the associated high prices (typically standard western prices for a Sony or similar). So, although things may be much cheaper here, the quality is also much lower and less likely to last. Which makes me wonder why all the car manufacturers like Audi and BMW are shifting their manufacturing to China - I don't think I'll be buying one of those cars in the future - though with my current failure to find any kinda teaching job it looks like I will never be able to afford one anyway!
Right, that is far too much babbling for me. Hope everyone is well.
Roops - Hannah will post sometime soon when she has the time.
Sorry for being so quiet recently, we've just been busy doing other things.
It is a long time since we last blogged and quite a few things have happened. Esther has left and gone back to the UK. My parents came for a weekend, which was great to see them but far too short. They then left, and finally we went to Sanya.
Esther's last week or so here was a bit of a blur, rushing around making
sure she has done everything she wanted to do, plus it didn't help that Hannah was very ill with food poisoning and a cold and evntually had to go to hospital (their version of the doctors) to get fixed. She even had to show her poo to lots of people before a diagnosis of food poisoning could be made - great medical skills their doctor-bods. Esther also took up kung fu - something which I have been trying to continue, but with limited success due to me being so busy all the time. The last day she was here was very manic, with dresses being made, meals being had and goodbyes being said. And before we knew it she was gone - her visit went by so quickly. Then, that weekend my folks arrived after spending a week in Beijing. My folks being my folks were completely exhausted after trying to do too much stuff (and also after lugging their own food round with them it seems - the perils of an organic wheat-free diet). A teacher friend of one of the Americans here had arranged a day's outing to some small villages for my parents and us. We began the trip not knowing what to expect, but it turned out to be truly excellent, visiting some very interesting old farming villages - some buildings still had pictures of Mao painted on the walls and remnants of the farming quota leader board which had to be filled in to make sure all the farmers were pulling their weight. It was fascinating and when Hannah gets round to it she will post some photos.
The next day we went for a wander round the Portuguese quarter of old Haikou to show the folks a bit of the city. They loved it, since it gave them a real insight into a more typical side of China, something that Beijing, their previous city visited certainly does not give. Sadly, almost as soon as my parents visit had begun, it ended, and they left the next day.
The following weekend we went to Sanya so Hannah and I could relax after four hectic weeks of being visited by members of the family. The weather was absolutely fabulous, topped off by some cracking waves on the beach allowing us to go body-surfing crazy, something I had not done since I was a little boy with my dad. Unfortunately the body surfing proved too much for my supposedly water-proof factor 50 suncream and I got sunburnt again. I was so adamant that I wouldn't get burnt this time as well, grrrr.
And that is about it. I have missed loads of stuff out, but I thought I should give a brief update on what's going on with us. The weather here is now pretty much roasting all the time (it is about 32 degrees in the shade, nearer 40 in the sun). Annoyingly our sun tans are probably worse than the tan Esther managed to obtain in the four weeks she was here - we can't figure out what we are doing wrong. So don't expect us to be too brown when we get back (in just under three months now - wowzer, how time flies).
Oh yeah, one little side-note about Chinese build quality. We recently had to buy a new DVD player after our old one (bought when we first arrived) finally decided to stop playing DVDs altogether. We went out and bought one for 300RMB - about £25. It looked very fancy - had a glowing blue light like yours Emma H and claimed to support loads of features. After one day's use it had completely died, nothing worked at all. So, a little miffed, we took it back to get a replacement. The new one lasted about one week - before the picture started going a very odd colour and lines appeared all over the place. So we took that one back and had to pay an extra 100RMB to get an apparently more reliable model. Talking to my students, it seems that you can't get a decent DVD player from a Chinese company. You have to buy a Japanese brand or similar, and hence pay the associated high prices (typically standard western prices for a Sony or similar). So, although things may be much cheaper here, the quality is also much lower and less likely to last. Which makes me wonder why all the car manufacturers like Audi and BMW are shifting their manufacturing to China - I don't think I'll be buying one of those cars in the future - though with my current failure to find any kinda teaching job it looks like I will never be able to afford one anyway!
Right, that is far too much babbling for me. Hope everyone is well.
Roops - Hannah will post sometime soon when she has the time.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Video of a tropical rain forest
Hi All
This is a test to see if it works. Hopefully, below, you will see a video with sound of a tropical rain forest we wandered through last weekend whilst staying at some hot springs. I'm sure Hannah will soon add some nice pictures alongside a more detailed description. Fingers crossed, give it a while to load....
It worked!! The quality may be awfull, but, hey, not bad I think.
This is a test to see if it works. Hopefully, below, you will see a video with sound of a tropical rain forest we wandered through last weekend whilst staying at some hot springs. I'm sure Hannah will soon add some nice pictures alongside a more detailed description. Fingers crossed, give it a while to load....
It worked!! The quality may be awfull, but, hey, not bad I think.
