We've been in China for 5 months now. Gee, how time flies... it's either that or the vodka diet is finally paying off and I'm losing some days.
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| An old friend... |
This is just an update of what we've been up to over the last few weeks...
To utilise my free time, I decided to get myself a little keyboard and teach myself how to play a couple of tunes on the piano. I downloaded some "teach yourself how to play" programmes for my computer, and with the help of the trusty Tim, I'm learning to play a few of my favourite songs - very badly.
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| My electric organ |
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| Tim, my music teacher. |
Liesl spotted a Holiday Inn on the way home from work one day. Said Holiday Inn has an Irish Pub. So naturally, we had to find a way to get over there for some good ol' pub grub!
We eventually found a cab, and with the help of google maps, we managed to direct the taxt driver to our desired destination. Yay! AND it only took an hour to get there!
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| Some Chinese places near the hotel |
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| View from the hotel |
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| The Holiday Inn |
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| Lanterns |
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| On the road |
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| In the cab |
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| In the bar |
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| Some proper drinks! |
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| Proper food!! Steak pie, with mashed potatoes and veggies!! Nom, nom, nom |
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| Yay for Corona! |
We also found a nice little Japanese restaurant at our local mall. We had some stunning sushi and fried dumplings, AND it was totally cheap. Definitely want to go back there!
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| Shovelling my food like a true Chinese person. |
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| Fried dumplings |
When one of us has a day off, we like to surprise the other with something fun when they come home. I planned a pamper night for Liesl. Facials, manicure, pedicure, the works!
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| The relaxing candle-light atmosphere |
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| Liesl relaxing and getting ready for the pamper party! |
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| The set up |
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| Us relaxing |
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| The foot soak |
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| The foot wrap |
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| Pedicure, and hand therapy |
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| The pamper pack |
One of the Chinese teachers at our school, invited us over to her apartment for lunch. She doesn't speak any English, so we had to take our teaching assistants with to translate. It was really interesting. The food was very tasty and edible - she cooked traditional chinese "cuisine". I really enjoyed it. Except for the part where we had to eat with Chinese people... it's very weird. Watching them eat is not really a pleasant experience. We knew this before going - obviously we see Chinese people eating all the time, so we know what it involves. I think we thought that maybe people we know would eat more like Westerners... but we were wrong. They chew with their mouth's open. It's extremely noisy and annoying. They talk with their mouths full of food. They also spit out unwanted items onto the table NEXT to their plates... not onto their plates or into a napkin, but right onto the table next to you. I find this very strange... I really don't want to be eating with someone's half chewed pork fat next to my plate... AND they don't even clean up afterwards. They just leave the half eaten food on the table, for someone else to clean up!
That aside, we did have a nice time, and really appreciated that she wanted to have us round for lunch.
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| Us in the middle: Me, Rainbow, Yuki, Liesl, Tina and Peter (it was at Tina's house) |
A few weeks ago, the Shane English School representatives from head office in Shanghai paid our school a visit. We met these guys when we were in training in Shanghai in June. So it was nice to meet up again, and be with people that can speak English!
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| We went to a bar called Vox, and watched a local Chinese band play |
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| Grant, Liesl and Chris |
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| Me and the guys |
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| Us eating street food after the club - I'm still not sure what meat we ate.. but it did taste really good. |
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| Chris, Grant, Liesl and Peter at another bar called Helen's |
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| Us at Helen's - joined by a random Japanese guy we met at the bar |
In other news...
I've discovered the reason behind the excessive use of chili in China... it's because normal Chinese food is oily and tasteless without it. So I've now become accustomed to eating chili on my meals so that I can actually taste something. Mayonnaise usually burns my mouth, so I'm quite surprised that I am coping with the chili and actually enjoying it.
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| Me at Pappa John's on our weekly Pizza night. They have fabulous jalepenos. |
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| This is the form at the bank that we have to fill out every time we make a transaction. It's a fucking nightmare! |
We have a little pet store in our local mall, and the sell ferrets!! They are so cute! I really want one. Unfortunately, they live for like 10 years... which isn't really ideal right now. I kind of need a pet that will die in about 6 months - so that I don't have to give it away when we leave China...
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| Isn't it cute!! |
We recently opened a new school, which we now also have to teach at on weekends. It's a small school, with only two classrooms, but it's quite nice.
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| Our photos and teaching certificates up in the entrance of the new school. |
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| Some of Liesl's kids |
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Us and our TAs at the new school
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| This is the toilet at the new school.. notice how the stalls have no doors... and the front door is made of glass. Needless to say, we do not use these toilets... what is that about? |
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| Sign in the bathroom in Starbucks - in the event that there is a public western toilet... we will usually find feet marks on the toilet seats. |
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| This is how most toddlers go to the bathroom... |
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| See... oh well. At least they are peeing into the bushes... instead of just on the floor. |
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| Enough said... |
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These are pics of the food court in our local mall. It's on the third floor. Stay away from the third floor. It's revolting. I wish I could bottle the smell and bring it home with me... because it's unfair that we are the only ones who get to experience this putrid, nauseating scent. I literally gag when I smell it. It's so bad, it's impossible to walk along the entire third floor without a vomit bag. I have no idea what these people are cooking... ew.
Here's some pics of the famous East Lake in Wuhan. It was a very misty day... so you can't really see a lot. But this is a HUGE man-made lake. There are numerous areas around the Lake which you can visit - such as the Lily Pad gardens, the Blossom Gardens, there's a man made beach and swimming area, fishing area etc.
Here's some pics of us with our friends:
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| Liesl and Yuki, Sunny, Me and Yuki |
Well, that's all for now.
Will post more next month!
xxx
