Yes, I know its been a while since I last wrote (thanks for reminding me Ray!) but I have a perfectly good excuse - I've been sick with a chest infection - and had the delights (??) of experiencing first hand the Chinese medical system. You can't say I've let the side down as I've tested the ordinary system for all of you - even the school clinic and the doctor there who could not manage to understand that I knew what the problem was I just needed it fixed - and ...

This week had been relatively quiet in that I haven't been flitting out of the city and no superstar treatment!! Building works continue at a rapid pace at school. The new canteen was opened with much fanfare at 0600 on Monday morning - needless to say I didn't quite make it but could hear everything from my apartment!! We now have the workmen working day and night as they demolish the old canteen and adjacent buildings - with the assistance of a big "tonka" toy...

Well my extra long weekend is almost over and its back to reality at 0740 in the morning when I have my first class of 22 for the week. I managed to fit in a massage ($5) and a french manicure ($2.50) in between shopping, eating out, doing some English work, socialising at the Firefly Coffeehouse and doing a bit of lesson planning. Well I HAD to eat out as the school cafeteria was closed all weekend as we move into the new one tomorrow - the students were happy ...

Surprise! Surprise! Sunday afternoon I was invited to go shopping with some of my students again....hmmm will I/ won' t I......what a stupid question - of course I will. A beautiful warm,sunny day even as we head into "winter" and silly me wore long sleeves so sweltered all afternoon. Even some of the locals are getting to know me now and I get a "Ni Hao" as I walk past and am greeted with smiles when I return the greeting. Some of the local children have never ...

I dont pretend to know a lot about Chinese history so it was with pleasure that I accepted an invitation by a few of my students to take me to see Deng Xiaoping's Revolutionary Base and learn a little about the man that we have all heard of....but for me, never quite sure why. A member of the Chinese Communist Party since his youth, Deng Xiaoping is regarded as having rendered outstanding service to the Chinese people, throughout the revolution, during the dev...