We’re on a count down to the National Day holiday – the Golden Week as it’s called here. This is a week when it is best advised not to go anywhere further than your front door. Certainly you should avoid going outside and to venture anywhere near YuYuan Gardens, Nanjing Road or the Bund unless… Read More »
I decided to invite some of my colleagues round to my flat for a few drinks and some finger food. The Chinese girls told me they didn’t drink alcohol so I bought some very nice and expensive juices for them. However, on arrival they said they would like to try a… Read More »
On Monday there was a hurricane warning in Shanghai and I saw two men walking the streets of the former French concession ringing and hand bell and advising people to go indoors and close the windows. The hurricane didn’t materialise – only a bit of a wind – nothing serious. The next day I was… Read More »
In Lithuania soon after the fall of the Soviet Union, queues for food and essential supplies were still common place and it was not unusual for people to join a queue without knowing what was at the end of it. I am reminded of this as I walk home along Nanchang Lu each day. There… Read More »
My mother and father used to talk about how everyone remembered where they were when JFK was assassinated. Even though they are not American, it was a moment which shocked the world. My two moments were learning of the death of Princess Diana (waking up on a Sunday morning and switching the radio on) and… Read More »
I was surprised, on my first Friday Afternoon Detention (FAD) duty to find so many of my students there. What on earth had they been doing? I looked down the list of misdemeanors to find most people had either not done their homework, spoken noisily in self study or missed a lesson. And what was… Read More »
In today’s world of immediate communication, friends are never more than a couple of clicks away. Even my old friend, Woche, who lives a mud hut in Marsabit, a small town in the great Rift Valley of Kenya is reachable by text message and email. It’s so easy to keep in touch but we… Read More »
I was definitely at a disadvantage when it came to setting up my (Raspberry) Pi Factory stall at the Club Fair today. I was teaching right up to the start time and by the time I had persuaded a student to help me lug the… Read More »
It’s go go go in the Teachers’ Room this afternoon. Some are having meetings, planning lessons, discussing students and marking work and others are…. ummmmm, well resting I think we call it. And you think your teachers do nothing but sit around drinking coffee all day? Think again. We are here from early morning until… Read More »
Last month I was excited to see a mother and her two kittens – one tabby and one ginger – on the roof outside my window. I watched as the kittens got fatter and played with each other. I hoped they hadn’t fallen down an air-conditioning pipe but feared for the worse when one disappeared… Read More »