Hello. 

See, I’m doing pretty well with the updating now!  Woohoo!

Sunday is the 1st of October which means that it is National Day.  National Day is marked by a week of holidays all across the country, meaning that I too have a week off.  People have been asking me what I intend to do for the week for some time now, and I hadn't made any plans.  I had considered going traveling for a week but decided that my lack of Chinese, combined with the whole country having their holidays at the same time, meant that maybe it was a better idea if I stayed in Ningbo.  I would instead do a bit of traveling around a more local area, and seeing some sights of the city rather than the further country.  I have a month off for February and I expect that I will do the bulk of my traveling then instead.  This was my intention until the end of school today.

I had gone to see Tracy to get my passport back from her (she needed it to change something with my residence permit, so I can now stay here till the end of August if I choose) and to ask for someone to come and mend my sink.  The sink in kitchen decided that it didn’t want to work anymore, and in protest started spitting water out over my floor.  Tracy arranged for someone to come to my kitchen, and gave me my passport back along with some vouchers for the cinema and for produce from local bakeries.  She also told me that Jane wanted to speak to me.  Jane was my supervisor when I first arrived here, and the person with whom I had arranged my appointment at the school.  I went to look for Jane and found her in her office, which handily enough is also my office.  She asked me if I would be interested in going away with herself, her daughter and her husband to visit her mother-in-law and her sister’s family in another city.  The trip would be leaving on Monday, and I would return to the school on Thursday.   I obviously accepted, and so we made arrangements for the logistical aspects of the trip.  I'm a little unclear of the itinerary of the entire expedition but I understand it will involve staying in a city for a few days, a day trip out to Jane's husband's home town (a village out in the countryside) and a trip to another city which is the capitol of this province (although a smaller city than Ningbo). 

All of it sounds very exciting and I’m very much looking forward to all of it, but most of all the chance to go to a more rural area of the city grabbed my attention.  Jane knew that I was interested in going to a more remote area of the country so that I could make my comparisons, and perhaps this is what has prompted her to make this invitation.  The villages around China are far poorer than the cities and I’m sure it will be fascinating to see how such a large proportion of the populace of China lives.  It will be a sight that I’m sure many visitors to China are unable, or unwilling, to observe too.  I think that I'm very lucky to be in a situation which allows offers like this to come my way.

So, while I have been wonderful with writing this post so soon to the last one, it may in fact be a little longer before my next.  I don't expect anything overly interesting to happen to me before Monday, and so I prop won’t have reason to write again before I go.  Rest-assured though, that when I do write next I will probably have not only stories to tell but endless photos for you too!  See, so it's also pretty exciting for you.  :)

Ok, well I think that will be about enough from me.  You are probably still recovering from the last entry anyway.

So, byebye for now.

Mat

x

Hi.

I think that this might be a bit of a mammoth entry, so I apologise, and I will try to write more frequently in future so you can read about my life in more bit-sized chunks.

Well, I guess the first thing, and maybe the most important thing that happened last week, was that I have managed to increase the number of Chinese lessons I am having.  Originally I was having a one hour lesson on Monday mornings, but after a little negotiation I have found some really splendid people in the Chinese department who appear to be happy to assist in my learning.  So now to supplement my Monday morning lesson I also have a few hours on Wednesday morning, and also Friday morning, and Friday afternoon.  I’m still a long way from being competent with Chinese yet, but hopefully with all this extra tuition I might be able to make some progress sooner rather than later.  A lot of these lessons are being used with working on my pronunciation. I have some problems with some of the sounds, and while I can get them eventually, it takes me a little time occasionally, and I tend to need to revisit them over and over again.  All part of the fun though, right!  J

On Saturday last week I was taken out on a little tourist trip by one of the teachers here.  She is an English teacher here (she is Chinese) but teaches the year below the youngest of my classes, teaching some far more basic stuff.  ABC’s as she put it, although I’m sure they must be more capable than that as the youngest students I have appear to be more advanced than just using the alphabet.  Maybe she is just a very good teacher! When she had asked me where I wanted to go, I had told her that I was happy to leave the choice up to her, and that I wanted to see everything!  How very difficult of me. J She decided that our destination would be Baoguo Temple.  And what a wonderful choice she made.  Baoguo Temple is a Buddhist temple, the main hall of which was constructed in 1013.  That’s a long time ago, a very long time ago. To be exact that temple has stood for 993 years.  It is the oldest wooden structure in China, and really is very impressive.  This will sound a little bizarre to say, but the roof of this building is really incredible.  I took some pictures of the general complex, and of the roof, which can be found above.  These photos though, as is so often the case, really don’t so this magnificent construction justice.  Sadly you will just have to believe me that this roof is more impressive than I ever thought a roof could be. 

As we moved away from the roof we walked up some hills that were around the temple and found some views of the surrounding scenery.  Sadly we couldn’t see in the direction of Ningbo but, like so much that there is to see here, what we could see was really breathtaking.  We admired the sights and sounds of this relatively solitary place for a little while before heading back down the mountain/hill and realising that it wouldn’t be possible to get back to town in a taxi, as we had arrived, and that getting a bus would be the best solution.  My guide was a little disappointed by this, but I was ecstatic.  We boarded the bus (which really was incredibly cheap) and began our journey.  Driving in China is fascinating, with vehicles and people swerving in and out of each other.  It was reassuring travelling in a transporter of such magnitude, and with such supremacy on the road.  All but lorries swerved to avoid us as we changed lanes, and indeed sides of the road, at our whim.  In what seemed to be no time at all we were back in the city, and we jumped in a taxi to get us to Tian Yi to get a little food.  What a wonderful way to finish the trip.

Sunday was the day of the presentation, and so Tracy and I headed to Ningbo Grand Theatre at about half five so that we could sort ourselves out before it began.  The presentations weren’t actually in the theatre, but on a stage that had been erected just outside.  We were met by the organiser of the event and showed to our seats.  I had no idea of what to expect up to this point, and so when I counted 300 seats, and was told that there would be 180 performers, I felt a little uneasy.  It appeared that this may be a little more of an event than I had expected.  There were thirteen acts, all of which were song or dance routines by various groups, with the exception of a girl doing some very impressive acrobatic type things with the help of her twin.  I was act 8 which is a lucky number in China, although I certainly wasn’t feeling lucky at this point.

It was at about quarter to seven when the acts began.  The seats had all been taken and there were about 200 additional people standing around watching.  I counted down the performances until act 7 came on, at which point I stood and walked to the side of the stage where I was greeted by a few people who spoke only Chinese.  I felt not only extremely anxious about the impeding recital, but rather isolated too.  I wasn’t there for long before the music stopped, the dancing girls left the stage and a microphone was thrust into my hand.  The presenter stepped up and told the crowd that ‘Mat will be reading a poem in English for you’, or at least that’s what I assume he said.  The crowd clapped and once more the stage was empty.   I took a deep, deep breath and walked out.  It was quite dark by this point and with the huge lights all around the stage, I really couldn’t see much.  Cameras flashed at me and everyone was utterly silent, a first in an evening of song and dance.  I said ‘hello’ and introduced my poem before grabbing one more lungful of breath.  I read through my poem at a steady pace, feeling a mixture of discomfort and ridiculousness.  It seemed like I was up there for ten minutes, although I’m sure it could have been no more than three or four.  As the poem finished I looked into the blackness where the audience were and said ‘thank you’.  I left the stage to a thunderous applause, which highlighted the incredible silence that had remained during my time up there. 

I walked down the steps from the stage and was greeted by organisers and ether performers, all of which were clapping and smiling and saying things in Chinese.  I was surrounded by a mass of ‘thumbs up’.  I walked back to my seat with the crowds surrounding our seats parting in front of me.  I sat back down, and gave a huge sigh.  Tracy asked me ‘did you hear them say thank you?’  I wasn’t sure what she meant and so she explained to me that at the end of the poem, when I had said thank you to the crowd, the crowd had said ‘thank you’ back to me all in unison.  In my haste to retreat I had missed it, but I was still amazed that this wonderful audience, very few of which would be able to speak English, had thanked me in English.

The last few acts passed very quickly for me, until the last one where all of the performers took to the stage again to clap along with the goodbye type song.  I climbed the stairs once more, being much more confident this time, and stood behind a group of four girls all dressed in various silver outfits.  I couldn’t see the crowd but it soon dawned on me that many if the people on the stage were looking at me because I was clearly taller than everyone else.  The vast majority of them were female, and I was literally head and shoulders above the others.  It was all very smiley, and I assume people were laughing and joking with me, although obviously I’m not entirely sure of the content of the humour.  The show ended, the crowd clapped once more, and we began to leave the stage.  I was near the back and when there were only myself and about five other girls left to leave, they turned around and signalled that they wanted photos of me.  I was flattered, but allowed a few photos to be taken, all the time being very conscious that in the black the crowd were still present and able to see me being photographed.  After a few minutes I was allowed to leave, and I returned to our seats to meet up with Tracy.  She seemed to be very happy, and smiled lots of the journey back to the school. 

Well, that is pretty much it for last week.  I’m sure plenty of other things happened.  I was a little strict with some of my kids as there were a few that were pissing about a bit.  I got a gift from the principal.  Oh, and I’ve just realised that I haven’t even talked about the pizza!  It was made of very sweet dough, covered in cheese, then fruit, then lots of syrup.  It was literally the sweetest thing I have ever tasted!  The hot fruit on top was really good though, especially the grapes.

Ok, well going to finish here.  I’m sorry this is so long, I will try to write maybe twice a week from now on, if I can. 

Hope you enjoyed it.

Mat

x

Hi.

I really had intended writing on here far more often.  Sorry.  I will try to post things on here a little more often, especially as it would appear that people actually read what im writing! J

Well, since the last time I wrote something I have been pretty busy (hidden excuse).  I was actually kind of waiting for after the weekend so I could send a huge list of things I have been doing.  Last night however something happened which I have to tell you.  It was much more dramatic than any of the exciting occurrences happening in the week before.  There was a very large spider on the wall of the room where my washing machine was.  As I was taking my washing out of the machine I looked up and there he was staring back at me.  I stepped back and literally shouted at him that he was a dirty little b&$”&^d.  I don’t think he heard me though as he sat there on that wall quite motionless, and appearing rather nonchalant.  For those of you who don’t know, I am absolutely horrified of spiders.  Not just a bit squeamish, but really really terrified.  Anyways, I stashed my washing in my room and knocked on Greg’s door.  He is aware of my fear of spiders, and so was wonderful in grabbing his can of bug killing stuff and running off to the wash room to vanquish the beast.  I was comforted by Meixia while the battle ensued.  After a few minutes he returned to tell me that he had won, and that the spider was pretty much dead.  He went back and finished the job.

This morning, after a rather fitful sleep, I was woken from my slumber by a rat-tat-tatting at my door.  I quickly dressed and made sure my hair was okay before answering.  Greg was outside and told me that he had the spider in his room, still dead of course, and that he was intending to show it to Tracy so that something could be done.  Greg has had a fair few problems with bugs in his apartment.  I have been relatively lucky so far.  He said he was going to unravel he spider’s legs (as they had coiled when the spider had died) and stick the spider to something so that he could truly demonstrate the size.  I mulled the idea over quickly, and told Greg that I wanted to see it.  I decided that I really needed to see that it was actually dead, and that it probably looked worse in my imagination than in real life.  So it was about half an hour later that I took the photos that can be seen above.  As I was finishing with the spider a large butterfly started flapping about us and I thought I would take some photos.  I hoped that the butterfly’s beauty would help compensate for the vulgarity of the spider, and my taking photos of it.

Ok, well I think that that is about enough for this entry.  I have so much more to say, and on such a happier note, but I felt that I needed to get the spider story out there.  Hopefully if I have time I will get chance to fill you all in tomorrow on the rest of the stuff, before it becomes dated and irrelevant.

Well, goodbye then.  And keep the comments coming,.  It makes me smile when I see someone has responded.  And we all know that people are prettier when they smile.

Byebye for now.

Mat

X

Wow, I’ve been planning to write something here for a little while, and I now have both the time (lesson in about half an hour) and the inclination.  So here goes.

Well, i have been here for about two weeks now, and very soon it will be the longest I have been in China at one time.  I'm still loving it, and each day I feel I am getting more and more used to things here.  The biggest obstacle is obviously the language, and this is something I am trying to work hard at.  I had my first lesson on Monday and, well, it didn't go as well as I was hoping for! :)  It's really hard!!!  But I have found a book in my room from the girls last year that is called 'Short Term Spoken Chinese' and so I've been going through that and talking to Greg and I think that I can see some progress being made.  Hopefully next weeks lesson will be much more successful.  Also I was told that I shouldn't be so inpatient, and that it is going to take me ages to learn.  I know this, but I just want it to happen as soon as possible.  So, it looks like I'm going to have to study pretty hard for a while.

Yesterday I was asked by the school if I wanted to be given some tours by some of the teachers, so that I could see the parts of Ningbo I haven’t seen yet.  Obviously I accepted, and so I am waiting for some times and dates so I can get out to see the hidden gems that this wonderful city offers.  Each day I go for a walk in a different direction for a few hours, and it amazes me how varied the different parts of the city are.  And how vast this place is!  In one direction is a road (the road the school is on - Yucai Lu) which appears to be endless, and although I walked for about an hour and a half along it, passing endless numbers of factories and all kinds of industrial buildings, it kept on coming.  When eventually I turned around and began my equally long journey home, the road was still heading into the distance and over the horizon.  When I later spoke to Greg I asked him about the road and he told me that about three hours drive north of Ningbo there is a town that is pretty much just occupied by industrial companies, and that the road I was walking along was probably lined by factories and the like for the entire way.  Good thing I didn't persevere to the very end of that one then.

Every time I go out I intend to take my camera with me, but I keep on forgetting as it was in my bag with my laptop.  But now I have moved it so that it is waiting for me next to my door.  When I go out next time I will take it with me so I can get some photos of what the city centre looks like, and what the city in general looks like.  I think I will spare you the pictures of the factories, although, they were relatively good looking factories.

I got a phone call this morning to tell me that because of the 'mid autumn festival' I need to go to my office to pick up a voucher for some cakes.  Not quite sure what this is all about, but I should go and investigate I feel.  This means that this has sadly come to a close.  And there is so much more to say! :) 

Ok, look forward to the next exciting installment - Coming Soon! (ish)

Byebye

x