Chinese are the masters of turning the blind eye ...

at least so they say. But some things that we keep hush hush are just not considered that way here. People don't go to adult shops ... apparently. But some must do if this shop stays in business. Sexy underwear and adult supplies.... yes I think I will investigate.

And I know you have seem a thousand signs of Chinglish but I had to take a pic of this bank sign the other day walking by. Seems they have both the Shaoxing City Bank AND the Shaoxing Citry Bank. Progressive place huh.

Oh and for the people from CE Facilities Dept, here are a couple of pics of cleaning Chinese style. At least the washing of the mops and equipment. That is in the canal, river, whatever is handy. No sign of a mop bucket. Interesting stuff and quite amusing.

Walking in the street the other day in a part of town Idont normally walk and woo, there is a part of Australia. A store I have not seen before. Very impressive outside and in. Lots of home things and chinese shop assistants who almost speak English. Nice. A bit expensive though and did see any vegemite. But lots of wine and other Oz goodies. Made me a little homesick really for a minute. I have recovered now .. thanks.

cheers, always interested in your comments

Mike

Shaoxing and Spring Festival

Imagine that you could roll the event of Christmas and New Year into one night at home and multiply it by 70 times. That is Spring Festival Eve here in China. They all have the 7-10 days official holiday beginning on the lunar new year. Incidentally it was on Australia day this year. But people start to travel back to their hometowns up to 2 weeks before and I understand now why that is necessary. Simply it is impossible to move that many people back home in only a few days before the festival.

To give you an example the larger cities Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai have been processing 200,000 people per DAY on trains for the times leading up to Spring Festival eve. Amazing.

Here in Shaoxing there have been the most people on the street not from the city area I have seen since the Olympic torch day. A few pics here for you. You can see in the pics the tables of candy and special treats in the background of the market store. Oh the girls were there to promote the store and wanted to be photographed. The street pic you can see the festival decorations.

Also included a short video of the same street and the people. Many many people around the place who must be from outside the city, coming to get their festival goodies.

And it is a tradition here to have fireworks on Spring festival. So we have been treated to that continuously since the evening of the 25th. So here is the video.

A wintery day in Hangzhou ...

Recently when I was looking for a new job for Feb semester I was going to take this job in godforsaken Shanxi Province at a place called Taiyuan. Dont worry about looking it up, not worth it. But the guy there insisted on this special form to be completed. And it had to be done by my previous employer. At that stage I had to go to Hangzhou where TEFL: head office is. Pain really, not that it is far but it is travel and inconvenience and expense. But anyway I asked the head of teaching and she agreed to fill in the form and amke it official I just had to come and get it. Hangzhou is capital of Zhejiang Province and big city and very famous for the West Lake. Although Winter is not the best time to go I think.

So decided to ask some old students of mine that I know are at Hangzhou. and see some West Lake and another place I went to one other time called Wushen Village. Was good to see them and make the day a little enjoyable and not just a trip for the TEFL form.

So here are some of my pics of Hangzhou and the West Lake. Not so much dialogue to go with it. ... It was cold very cold that day, maybe just zero or above. Both interesting places to go t oif you are coming to China, make sure you go to Hangzhou. Oh, and another incentive to come to Hangzhou is ... it is close to Shanghai, and it has a reputation for the Most beautiful girls in all of China come from this area. I hope you enjoy the pics

Yeah .. a new full time college job for 2009

Hey all

I must apologise for not updating the blog more often. Lately it seems I have been completely focused on getting a new job for Spring(Feb09) and also some part time here at aShaoxing.

Well I am please dtop say that I have been surviving on the work i have been able to get here without having to draw money from Oz and also have signed new contract for Feb09 start.

And I am happy about that. I am going to ... Shanghai. Actually to a college very similar to the one here at Shaoxing I worked at last year. It is a foreign language college the same. A little smaller. I think about 6000 students. But I will be doing just the oral english teaching which is better I think and a lot more fun.

Work begins about Feb16th .. I think. To be confimed.

The job is at Shanghai but a little way outside, not that far from the airport. It is in a diestrict called Nanhui. Anyway I went there last week and met all the key people and they were all professional and their english level was very good. So we will see what the students are like soon.

Initially I am going to live on campus for the first semester and after that I might move to the Shanghai metro district and commute on the school bus each day. After I get more familiar. But I am glad to be going to Shanghai. I think there will be so much to see and do there. And also it is the biggest and most western city here in China. So that is promising i think. So you are all welcome to come and visit and say Hi. I will be there until January 2010.

I didnt take any pics of the college on this visit .. sorry, next time. So here are a couple you will not have seen yet. One of Isabel and Co from the local TEFL school here in Shaoxing. Taken at the TEFL Xmas party. She and friends were doing a turkish belly dance. Actually the whole night was great and full of chinese people performing. They seem very happy to do it, unlike us. Isabel is the girl who gives me the teaching work at TEFL.

Also Minnie mouse is alive and well and living here in Shaoxing ... I saw her on the street and she let me take a pic. Check it out and then ...

there is a pic of some students and me here in Shaoxing at LuXun Village. They are from the Summer school I did last July. We caught up here for a day after their exams. English names Sophie and Candy.

I hope you like

bye for now,

mt