I thought getting the appropriate visa to come to China was the difficult part....oh how wrong was I. Once here my passport had to go to the local police to register me then sent off to get the Residents Permit. BUT there was more to come, off to get the health examination by the proper authorities and I now have the evidentary proof that I am fit and well enough to live in China. One was duly presented with the "Red Book" that tells everyone. Ah I thought, final...

Well it has been a most interesting week here in Baise- I have had both earthquakes and weddings - talk about going to extremes!!. Apparently we had a small earthquake on Sunday....announcements were made over the PA system telling students and staff what to do if we were hit by a bigger one......unfortunately I still don't understand enough Chinese so was lucky that someone translated the message for me!! Can't say I felt the earth move but we have so much cons...

Well after yesterdays successful encounters with the buses I thought today I would endeavour to get out and see a couple of the nearby counties....so off to the bus station I go ready to do battle language style again. Luck was on my side as I encountered the same lady as yesterday so we both know what we were doing...sort of.... I had my trusty map in hand and pointed to the counties I wanted to visit - that was the easy part - then I had to decipher when the bu...

Having only passed through the capital by bus on my way to the school I thought it was finally time I actually visited what many call the "green city". It is easy to see why....parks and gardens flourish throughtout the city. Nanning has a population of 6.8 million people so is still not a big city by Chinese standards but it was an adventure in itself getting there and getting around by myself with my limited language skills. Lots of hand gesturing, simple word...

Now everyone who knows me well knows that I dont cook. I have two favourite sayings " I've only got a kitchen because it came with the house" and 'God created restaurants for a reason". With that in mind it will come as a great surprise that I decided to give my spotlessly clean kitchen a test run during this National Day holiday. First challenge was working out how to use the appliances give that all instructions are in Chinese so I just pushed a few buttons ti...