04 - Newsletter - Issue 2

John & Chris’s News from China - Issue 2 Monday 12th September 2011

LEFT: ENTRANCE TO WEST LAKE ABOVE: CHRIS’S LANGUAGE SCHOOL

It was down to work from 1st September!

Following on from our newsletter Issue One dated 22nd August 2011, many things have happened!

Chris is now working in a private language school called STL

International (the one mentioned in the last letter never transpired). He teaches 34 classes of about 12 pupils aged between 8 and 11, in 30 minute lessons over Friday evening, Saturday all day and Sunday (total 17 hours). Then there are two other staff and planning meetings for a couple of hours on Friday and Monday. This make about 21 hours work in total, but mainly all

VALENCIA

SHENZHEN

That day was NOT the last night in a hotel as expected and we ended up with another week.

CHRIS STARTS WORK!

crammed intensively into each weekend.

We were told emphatically before we left the UK that Chinese children are well behaved in class, but Chris can emphatically tell you that they are not. In fact, some of them are little devils! Chris had requested that he ONLY teach adults, but in this town this was all that was available and at the time

LONDON

HUIZHOU

Huizhou City is located in the coastal Guangdong province in the southeast of China, close to Hong Kong and Macao.

It is unique in its culture, language and cuisine, with the famous Hakka style cuisine being something you must try!

Popular attractions include West Lake, which is surrounded by green hills and twisting paths around an interesting and colourful island, and the various local hot springs - perfect places to relax and unwind with fabulous views of the nearby mountains. Â The beaches of Huizhou have been kept free from pollution and have plenty of activities on offer such as diving, swimming and sailing. Â The average temperature of Huizhou is 20 degrees Celsius, so the greenery lasts the whole year and you can enjoy a warm winter!

two days work seemed like a good idea!

Unfortunately, both days are around 13 hour days and Chris is frazzled by the end of the day.

Luckily we have found a nice bar by our local swimming pool, where unfortunately, the beer is more expensive than others we have been frequenting. A 500 ml bottle (600 millilitres = 1.05 Imperial pints) is about 80 pence! That’s 20 pence higher than the other bars in town. In the latest restaurant find, a Brazilian, just round the corner, we get 600 ml for £1.20. Lunch today was £13.20 for the two of us, for food and drink. It’s like the ones in Valencia: You eat as much as you want!

Above: The Brazilian Restaurant Below: Our Twin Tub Washing Machine

FINALLY WE GET AN APARTMENT!

After three weeks in three different hotels in two different cities, and looking at various apartments, we settled on one near Chris’s school. It is also on the 20th floor with views to die for. Even Chris, who didn’t like the 9th floor at our first apartment in Manchester, has adjusted well to over double that height!

My Mother would be well pleased as she always swore by her Hoover Twin Tub washing machine. Well, we couldn’t believe it, but that’s what we have in the flat! Well, at least a Chinese version that is.

A FUN FAIR!

We were rather surprised that Huizhou had a fun fair and even more surprised that it’s virtually below our flat and to the left.

To the right below our flat is a huge square that on an evening is packed full of Chinese doing their exercises.

Left: The Local Beer Below: The Fun Fair

WEST LAKE HUIZHOU

A SMALL CORNER OF THE BEAUTIFUL WEST LAKE CAN BE SEEN FROM OUR FLAT. WE SPENT A COUPLE OF HOURS HERE AND WILL GO BACK FOR A BETTER LOOK AND PERHAPS A BOAT RIDE!

V I E W S F RO M O U R F L AT

Sometimes they are done accompanied to loud music.

Both make for a fantastic atmosphere right on our doorstep.

RECREATION! A couple of weekends ago, we got a taxi to West Lake which is really beautiful. They have boats on the lake and walkways connecting the islands.

The Chinese can be seen walking with their umbrellas protecting them from

the sun.

There is also a Buddhist temple where the monks were praying and in the middle of a service.

We had a very enjoyable afternoon there and must have walked a couple of miles.

CABARET CHINESE STYLE! On the first weekend, on part of the pub crawl we discovered the “Norwegian Wood” where two pints of Carlsberg set us back £2.50!

We then went back the following week in the evening and were pleasantly surprised that there was a chinese Band consisting of a singer with Guitar and a keyboard player.

Both were extremely good.

SHENZHEN (Bottom is Shenzhen Stock Exchange taken from the restaurant)

But in between their two performances, they put on a Britney Spears video!

TRIP TO SHENZHEN

As John needs to work on an Apple and had to leave his 24” iMac behind in Manchester, he has taken over Chris’s Apple Macbook Pro. It was therefore necessary to buy a new laptop for Chris.

As Apple’s new operating system called “Lion” has caused immense problems for us both, we decided not to spend £2,300 on a new MacBook Pro. In the shopping complex nearby they are about £1,600. But even then it’s a lot to splash out when we are suddenly We were taken to a building full of unhappy with our Apples. For 3.5 years we have been extremely stalls selling computers, chips and all manner of technical equipment. happy as they have done everything It was virtually an Aladdin's Cave of with ease. Unfortunately they have introduced a new operating system everything technical at incredibly that’s not too good and it’s slowed low prices. everything down. It’s meant to be We went into Shenzhen on Thursday 25th Augustr. We were given a nice lunch where John had a sizzly dish and the restaurant overlooked Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

S U N D RY P H OTO S I N H U I Z H O U & S H E N Z H E N (Note the food counter: It’s an Alligator!

like what’s seen on the hand held devices and they have tried to be too clever and it’s not worked, at least not for how we work.

umbrella. Last week he decided that here it was a necessity. The reason being that it’s far too hot for a coat and when it rains it’s extremely heavy and can catch you out.

Everyone here seems to have a Instead we decided to brolly with them. The ladies have an see what was on offer in umbrella to protect them from the the Aladdin's Cave sun and the other day we saw a complex. young guy with one in the blazing They have all makes and sun. sizes, but in the end we It was typical of old Chinese photos chose a Sony Vaio, and paintings to see the people with which cost us only umbrellas. Well, it’s still a reality £335! here - See the photos. Even the little motor bike taxis have them to protect the occupant and rider from WHEN IT RAINS! both sun and rain. One of the photos depicts one with two Well, all through passengers!

John’s life he has NEVER purchased an

The police here don’t seem to be bothered about the overloaded bikes where their occupants never wear a crash helmet.

I was in a taxi in Shenzhen though when the driver was waved down by a policeman and told to put his seat belt on. He was NOT issued with a ticket though.

MOBILE PHONES & INTERNET Chris had already had his old Samsung phone made free of any operator, so it was easy to just buy a Chinese SIM card and he now has a pay as you go Chinese number.

With John’s iPhone it was more complicated as his was tied to Vodafone. He had to pay 25 to have it “Jailbroken” (I think that’s the right term). He was then able to buy a Chinese iPhone SIM card for 20 complete with 10 of free time.

It’s a SIM with 3G, so he can do almost anything he could in the UK. The only drawback is that if it’s switched off or the battery runs down, it loses the 3G and we have to go back to the shop. Luckily the shop is just round the corner. We have asked for instructions in chines as to what he does to get it working, so John can do the same!

The other problem is that it’s lost the ability to browse, which is a nuisance as none of the links in any emails can be opened. John has to wait until he gets home.

As we still haven’t got internet at the flat, we are having to use the IT room as Chris’s School.

Unfortunately the VPN (Virtual Private Network) doesn’t work on John’s MacBook and so he cannot open Facebook and post things or reply to any postings!

Facebook is banned in China and a VPN would help the www think we are in the UK and then we can get Facebook again, plus anything else that’s banned for the Chinese.

Hopefully that can be sorted out once we get broadband connected in the flat.

The Sony Vaio is having trouble downloading all the mails from the Apple cloud and his Spamarrest email account, despite what settings we have used. John will also need to sort that out.

JOHN HAS ALSO BEEN BUSY! Chris was phoned for a mid-week job working as what’s called here “A Big Nose Job”. This is where Westerners are employed to attend business meetings to make the firm look like a worldwide operator, with key personnel around the globe.

We assume it’s called this because we have much bigger noses than Chinese people.

Anyway, Chris was unable to go since he had to prepare his lessons and yearly syllabus, being it’s the first time he has taught English here in China. Their courses follow the American Longmans course material on CDs. So, Chris recommended John to do it instead, being that John was formerly a businessman.

So last Wednesday John had to get up early to leave by taxi at 7:30 am to go to the bus station. From there it’s a 1.5 hours journey to Shenzhen. There he caught the Metro for one stop and went to the meeting place, which was a StarBucks and had breakfast.

The journey had been quicker than expected and John’s contact arrived an hour after John.

PLANE TO CHONGQING AND SOME PHOTOS FROM THAT REGION AND THE FA MO U S H OT POT

They then went to the company offices where John was introduced to the General Manager, who immediately liked John’s “Business Looks” and wanted to hire him for three years! Maybe it was the big nose! LOL :-) Interesting that there were no jobs to be found in the UK in 15 months, yet in China John, who is now officially retired, had already been offered two and this was the third and Chris had been offered two already. And Chris has a fully expenses company flat. All within three weeks of arriving in China!

John was then introduced to the people he was to travel with and later all went to the airport. It was a 650 mile flight from Shenzhen International Airport to Chongqing.

It appears that this city is famous for it’s “Hotpots”, which I took to be something like a “Lancashire hotpot”. When we arrived in the street with all the hotpot restaurants, I realised that it was exactly the same as reported in last months newsletter, but inside in an airconditioned restaurant and at bigger tables. I didn’t like the look of many of the dishes, so stuck to those I knew. This type of meal isn’t one of my favourites.

We got back to the hotel at 11 pm and prepared for the meeting the following day, so I didn’t get to bed until about 1 am and had to be up at 7 am.

The day proved very interesting with a presentation of a new development town in Chinese. They are building a new town straight off, for 500,000 people, with new factories and a landscaped area round a river which goes into the Yangtze river.

We then piled into coaches for a 2 hour journey to see the site.

Unfortunately, it was raining heavily so we saw nothing as we ascended deep into the Chinese countryside. They provided everyone with umbrellas, but that didn’t stop my nice black business shoes ending up caked in brown mud! On the way back it had cleared somewhat and I managed to get some good photos.

We got back at about 7 pm and I thought I was going to stay the weekend and do some sightseeing, but there had been a mess-up at the office and they had me confirmed for a flight that evening.

I wanted to stay over as a guy on the project from Shenzhen, it's his home town and he was staying over to see his family for the so called Mid-Autumn festival they have here, and offered to spend the evening with me over a meal and show me where to go sightseeing - I could have stayed the weekend, but they had already booked the flight back and I was on the way to the airport! What a bummer. So, I have told them NEVER to book a flight back when visiting a new area for me!

I got back so late they put me in a hotel in Shenzhen and then I got the bus back Saturday morning.

To get around we are always given a text message or a piece of paper in and Chinese with the destination clearly shown. The idea is to show the taxi driver or the bus ticket cashier and we hopefully end up in the right place!

PHOTO AT THE BUS STATION SORRY IT’S A BIT BLURRED - THIS IS THE LINE PEOPLE MUST NOT STAND IN FRONT OF! I A M TA KING T H IS P H OTO W ELL IN F RO N T O F T H AT L I N E !

A BOV E & BELOW FRO M JO H N’S TRIP IN THE RAIN!

S U N D RY P H OTO S

(One here is of a Traditional English Sunday Roast orgamised by a Ukrainian & John below eating Chilli Beef and Peppers)

I got a taxi on Saturday morning to the local bus station nearest the hotel and managed to get a ticket to Huizhou, but as it was in Chinese it’s difficult to check if one has the correct ticket!

Anyway, I ascertained it was gate 2 and went and asked and it WAS the right queue. I joined the queue, standing behind the thick line, as you must NOT stand in front of that line until told to do so, when the bus arrives. Some time later a security man came and moved me in front of the line near the desk and I was the only person standing there. I was now in full view of the whole bus station for about 20 minutes, until a young Chinese guy came and joined me to chat and practice his English.

We got on the bus and chatted for the whole journey and he helped me to find a taxi back to our flat.

I got home to have lunch with Chris at 12:30 pm. It was an incredible three days.

They want me to go to another project near Beijing at the end of next week and back to Chongqing City on

the 26th or thereabouts. We shall see if this happens or not, as it’s a bit like Spain in this regard.

JOHN IS NOW EATING LOTS OF STRANGE DISHES! You will see from some of the photos in BOTH issues that John is at last being more adventurous with his food, after 65 years!

We have taken some photos of the menus of some favourite dishes so we can ask for them at a new restaurant.

The other evening we ordered beef with peppers and the second time round it also came with mild Chillis, but John ate it all!

KEEP IN TOUCH! As our last newsletter proved popular, we will keep in touch with more news as it unfolds, probably next month. We hope that you are all OK and hope you all keep in touch with us with all your news!