Four wheeled fun

Last term, along with Charlie, we went on a search for something to do in our City on a weekend. We went to the nearby amusment park. Don't think Alton Towers, just a few old rides for young children and then a lake in the middle with peddlos on. The only thing of interest that we could find was the quad bike track. Not that big, but with the potential for breaking bones, it would offer the excitement we needed. Due to the cold winter weather however, we never got to have a go.

On Saturday however, Chris, Brock and I had a ride over on our newly purchased bikes. The weather is nice again here, clear and warm, so it was a great chance to have a go on the quad bikes. After standing there for 2 minutes, deciding wether or not to risk having a go, we had a crowd of about 40 people just looking to see whether these stupid three people were actually going to have a go. We did.

The best part of the day however, and Charlie you may not want to read this, was that right next to the quad track was a go-cart track. Expecting the carts to be slow and useless, it was a great suprise to find that they were pretty much as good as I have tried in England. Decent track, six carts, lots of fun to be had. Were going again this Sat with the view of having a big race between England and America. I hope my insurance covers me for this!

Two entirely unrelated things

Some might say that a high proportion of my time spent so far in China has been drinking alcohol, looking forward to drinking alcohol or recovering from drinking alcohol. Those people would be right. But i'm not alone. Its a common sight, Friday evening, around 7pm - 8pm, five eager foreign teachers leave their appartments, glad rags on and money in their pockets. At this time, we often bump into our students and they know fine well were we are off to. Come 2am, after eating lamb sticks from 'the corner' restaurant, we noisily make our way back to our appartments. Not naming any names, but certain people have even been escorted by the blues and twos.

Speaking of which, I may have failed to mention that a Police Station has been built, that joins on to our appartments. Only big enough to house two policemen or so, painted with blue stripes and situated directly outside our front door. Actually built onto our building. Now im not for one second assuming that the police station has been built there because of us. However, it does make me wonder if we may have helped make the decision of where to situate the new station a little bit easier!

Rubbish Chinese Internet

Yet again i've been having problems with blogger.com, plus the fact that the Chinese electricity system has killed my camera battery and you can see why keeping my blog up to date has been a nightmare. Anyhow, continue I shall try. I am going to buy a new battery this week, so hopefully the pictures and videos I have can soon be shown!

Demoted to Ref

Last term, Charlie and I took part in three football matches with the students, as mentioned in an earlier post. In a word, I was rubbish. But it was fairly fun, other than coughing up coal dust for hours after. This term, I was hoping that with Charlie gone, they would maybe not require my services anymore. I was wrong.

One of the students came to my classroom last week, letting me know there would be a game on the coming Friday. Was I free they asked? Unfortunately I was. Great, you can be referee then! Referee? Me? Are you sure?

Armed with red card, yellow card and whistle, I was given the task of refereeing a fairly important match between a Senior 1 and a Senior 2 class. I opted for the fluidity route - i.e. don't really do much and hope they don't spot that I really am not that clued up with the rules. I'm sure they were often offside, but not once did I blow the whistle for that. Thankfully, Chris refereed the second half and took the attention away from myself. Mainly because he gave a dubious penalty (according to the team conceding), that was duly missed and the Senior 2 team scored a last minute winner. As of yet, our services have not been requested for another game!

Back in the swing of things

• Its been quite an amusing week or so back in the Shiz. Friday night involved taking part in a quiz at our favourite bar. Chris, Hilary, Meredith, Becky (and Mother) and I were on one team - named Linda Wicker. Everybody else from our bunch were on another team together. Some notible heavyweights such as Zach were also on the other team. I'll cut to the chase, we won! Upon finding this out, Chris and I congratulated the other team like the true gentlemen we are (shouting, hissing and clapping etc).

• I decided that it would be a good idea to purchase a bike this week. Obviously, I dragged Chris along to buy one too. For the same price as a KFC bargain bucket, we merrily peddled away from the shop, happy with our purchase. However, the wheels very nearly literally came off the very next day, when Meredith, Chris and I decided to take our bikes to the gym. By the second corner, Meredith's chain had completely given in, leaving her to walk home. About twenty inutes later, Chris had an 'uncomfortable experience' as his seat broke. We then had to buy two new seats from he nearest bike shop. Cutting our losses, we returned home also. I somehow wish I had bought the KFC instead.

• This week I have been teaching about famous British people. Showing about 50 pictures of different famous people from The Spice Girls to Winston Churchill. After that, I ask them 'If you could go for a meal with any famous person that has ever lived, who would it be and why?'. Its only Tuesday and all ready I have two superb answers:

'I'd choose Chairman Mao. This is because the streets near my home are very badly repaired and I would get him to fix them'. Great image of the great man himself with overalls on getting ready to tarmac the road!

'I'd choose Bill Gates. This is because it is said that he could easily misplace Y1000 and not realise. And I need the money'. Great, just great.

Everyone in Beijing

On the evening before Charlie left Beijing for home, we took the opportunity get a photo off all the teachers together in the Hostel. From the left we have Charlie and Claire, quite clearly happy to be leaving China and get back to good old England! Then there's me, saying 'why the hell am I back here?' through gritted teeth. Next we have Kavitha, no doubt doing the same having just returned from America. Meredith in the middle was probably be thinking 'I wonder if I can drink the next bottle of wine quicker than I just drank that last one?', shortly after this I would just like to add for the record that she poured her bottle of water over my head (yes, I fully deserved it). Then we have Brock, Becky, Wallace, Hilary, Zach and Renee. Finally, on the far right, we have Chris, the newest member of the team. I emailed him shortly before I returned to England informing him that Charlie was leaving, and that there would be a space for another teacher should he wish to join us. It's not that bad I told him. Unbelievably, the plonker fell for it!! So there he is, bemused, with a look of - 'I'm going to kill Dave' across his face.

My Apartment

This is mainly for the benefit of my Mam, to show that I can keep my apartment tidy! But before I left for England, I used the fact that my apartment was all cleaned and packed as a chance to do a quick video to show what it looks like.

Although I missed the main Chinese New Years celebrations as I was back in England, the locals are still using up their fireworks before the week starts. I told Chris before we came to expect Beirut during war time, hoping that when we got here, he would be pleasantly suprised that its not that bad. As ever though, I was wrong. It does literally sound as if we are in the middle of an armed conflict. Two restaurant owners taking shots at each other with tanks from either side of the City. They are so loud that they are setting car alarms off continuously. AARRRGGGHHH, what I would give for peace and quiet!

I'm Back?

Yep, i'm back. After three weeks of food, drink and more drink, im back in my appartment in Shijazhuang. I feel like Andy Dufresne from The Shawshank Redemption, only this time, after digging out of the prison armed only with a spoon, I have walked back to the front desk, said 'Can I come back in please?' and now I am attempting to dig my way out of the other side of the cell.

After being on the drink till 4am on Wednesday evening, Chris (Charlies replacement) woke us up at 6am. Our bags were packed by 6.15am and we were in a taxi by 6.20am. Three painfully long hours later on the train we found ourselves stood in the rain, struggling to see through the thick smog, trying to get a taxi at Shijiazhuang train station. I felt bad, but I could see that Chris felt worse. An expression of 'What the hell am I doing here?'. Either that or 'Why the hell did I listen to Dave and come here?'.

However, a good nights sleep, a KFC (stomach couldnt yet handle Chinese food) and a potter about town have sorted us out. Everything is as we left it. Its fun watching Chris attempt to use chop sticks, oh how I mock him! Knowing full well I was just as bad when I first arrived.

One funny moment to report so far. Whilst sitting with Sandy, waiting for Chris to complete his medical, Sandy turned to me and said 'Dave, how does Charlie feel leaving China?'. My response was 'Well, that last he was seen he was skipping through Customs'. She didn't find it funny.