Catch-up post

I have been unable to blog for a while due to google's ‘maintenance problems'. Unfortunately, I've forgotten many of the things that I would have blogged so I'll just write a couple of things that now come to mind.

Last Wednesday night I made my first visit to the tea house near Wuhu's Buddhist temple. I felt ever so civilised as I sipped my Jasmine tea (actually really nice, despite my reservations about what I see as 'healthy' teas). Whilst Englishmen go to the pub to catch up with mates, the Chinese chat over tea, surrounded by beautifully carved wooden furniture and water features. I was delighted to embrace this thriving tradition with Joe, however much I also would have liked a glass of pinot grigio.

On Saturday I played badminton with Merim, Kaori and Fang Fang (who is taught Japanese by Kaori). Considering I usually avoid all net/ball/bat-related sports, I was mildly amused to find myself in a taxi on the way to the public courts of Wuhu's Olympic Stadium. However, I will happily admit that I enjoyed it a lot, despite my quite dire ability with a shuttlecock. Team sports are such good outlets for competitive urges, so, once over the initial confidence shortage, I really got into it.

The next evening, we were invited for homemade dumplings at Fang Fang's house. I have found that the people of Wuhu will invite you to eat in their home even if they barely know you, and this was not an exception – I had only met this sweet (if unusually energetic) girl two days before. Nevertheless, her mother had made an enormous amount of food and she'd even bought red wine, which I doubt she drinks very often herself.

Really, apart from other such relatively inconsequential events, things have been‘as normal’ here. We didn't celebrate Halloween, both because the Chinese don't and because we boycotted the only Halloween party we knew of (the boys really don't like the Canadian guy who organised it and I wasn't prepared to dress up on my own).

I am spending a large proportion of my time learning Chinese. By that, I refer to time spent in lessons and private study, but also times such as the two hours sat in MacDonald's yesterday, being taught the lyrics of a Chinese popsong by Tao. Actually, I think learning songs is quite a good way to do it because you pick up new words while also having a giggle – marvellous. I honestly don’t care if I sound like a crazy person – I will sing in MacDonald's every night if that's what it takes to learn this bloody language. Besides, people can’t possibly stare anymore if they tried, so singing makes no difference.

This morning after teaching at Kindergarten, as Joe and I were walking along the road with our Chinese colleagues, Eva and Lucy, we saw a big black dog in a cage. Having wandered around a market full of caged animals, during my quest for pot plants about a month ago, I was not in any way surprised by this. However, I was genuinely upset when Eva informed us that this particular dog, caged in unsuspecting ignorance, was almost certainly headed for the bowls of the restaurant it sat outside. Indeed, along that road there are many restaurants-come-street stalls, where food (vegetables and noodles, as well as the live offerings) is displayed and cooked outside and diners tuck into their egg-fried rice and dog meat inside. Yum.

My appetite returned not long after, thankfully, and this evening Joe and Ahmir showed Paul, Merim and me a crazy food stall market, which is off a main road I have walked along many times. Once you've stepped through the near-circular brick wall entrance you are met with a dirty looking narrow street, full of people walking through or queuing up by stalls that cook dishes over open flames or in brick ovens. I had chicken (served on a stick, like most meat in this country) and a huge vegetable pancake wrap thing, which was prepared in front of us. It tasted good, so it was easy to forget that the sticky batter mix was tipped on to the heat from a red bucket with which I wouldn’t want to clean my floors. I am definitely going back to that market because my whole meal cost me 4 kuai – not much more that 30p!!!
I will try and post some more photos on soon; maybe including one of the food market and my meat lollipops x