Our Australia Day weekend

It always used to be a long weekend then it was decided that Australia Day holiday should only be taken on the day regardless on which day the 26th falls on.

However this year, the 26th was on a Friday making a long weekend, woohoo!

We had been invited to a geo caching event at the beach and thank goodness we could drive over the traffic heading up north. The highway was packed!

Got two joint first to finds plus another one and the event, we didnt stay very long, a couple of hours as we were still not 100%. Came home and had a sleep.

Saturday was a trip to the library and shopping, another sleep while watching the tennis.

Sunday another event which was great until the rain came and came and got heavier. In a few minutes we all got soaking wet and the event was only scheduled for an hour so most of us left for home. I did have a lamington for an early morning tea.

Creepy.

We went out early this morning and then did some shopping at Costco on the way home, bad move as I think heaps of other people had decided to do the same it was very crowded.

As usual when we go to Costco we buy a cheap lunch, after all just cant beat a large slice of pizza and an iced coffee for less than $5, we are no longer in China and eating that cheap!

Drove home, unpacked the groceries into the fridge, still have to break down into meal portions, and sat down to enjoy our lunch. Then it happened, our ceiling fan started! It was warmish but neither of us had turned it on ir even touched the remote and Lucy is not tall enough. We have had the fan go off before but turn on? Def creepy.

Australia Day

It should be a day of celebration and enjoying oneself but there were several demonstations, reguarding the fact that it was Invasion day. All those people are now long gone and current day people cannot turn the clocks back and had a better outcome.

Several drownings far north, people enjoying the heat and keeping cool which didnt go as planned.

Several robberies with one police officer being slashed with a knife and fighting for his life, he has now been considered serious but stable.

With the day falling on a Friday, making for a long weekend, the traffic was horrific, thankfully where we were going we could go over the top of the traffic.

Happy Australia Day.

Tennis

Yay, we got home in time to watch the Australian open on TV. Love watching the tennis. Two years ago we went to see it as we were in Melbourne on our round Australia trip and then last year, we went to see the Hopman Cup in Perth. I have been to the Aussie open a couple of times before when we lived in Melbourne and a couple of times since but Hopman Cup had been on my bucket list for quite awhile.

Anyway it is tennis time of the year and it has been especially nice that we could vege out and watch it the last few days and get used to the heat. Our Aussie contentions are all out now but we did get to see a couple of them.

Davis Cup is being played next weekend in Brisbane and we were lucky enough to get two of the last tickets available. Really would have liked to get tickets for the Friday but while they had about six tickets lefts, they were not together and so we went for Saturday which will be the doubles match. Its in the afternoon so a nice relaxing train trip and I dare say we will be up in the "nose bleed" seats at least we will be out of the sun, got to look at the positives.

Roger plays the young Korean guy tonight and although he has done very well, I cant see him beating Roger. I am expecting it will be Cilic and Roger in the final of the AO Sunday night.

Bed

There is nothing like your bed when not feeling 100%. We were up at normal time this morning and decided to take Lucy for a walk before it got too hot. We did a circuit of 2.5 kms, I was urging Lucy not to stop everywhere cause the sun was out and could feel the day getting hotter.

Sitting down and thinking about what I needed/wanted to get done and Warren says to me that he was going back to bed, I said that I had been thinking the same thing.

No phones no tablets, we just climbed into bed and I am not sure who was asleep first. Warren has a lung infection and is on antibiotics and I feel as though I am getting a cold but an hour and a half in bed did wonders for me so hopefully my cold/flu whatever wont progress any further.

Lamb chops yum!

We ate well while we were away, the only meal we had at home was breakfast as there was no cooking facilities in the apartment. Had the choice of five canteens on campus or a few small ones across the road or there was Pizza hut, KFC, maccas or burger king further away. We did frequent pizza hut a bit as their menu is not just pizzas.

My menu of choice to cook when we first got home was lamb chops, nothing to beat them but we dont have them very often eating more chicken or pork.

Lamb chop, sausage and bacon with salad, I did pinch four very small pieces of Warrens potato and I made a lchf cheese sauce to go over all of it. It went down very well and I havent felt the need to eat yet today.

Pizza is on the agenda, home made pizza which is a cheese crust. I have bits and pieces to use up and a pizza will do that for sure.

Packing for home

College kids are preparing to return home. My helper Michael told me that he was going home for 45 days, he is in his second year of college and used to meet me and take me to the other high school once a week. This involved organizing ubers to take us and pick us up. Michael also had to check in at the school with his id each week and report to the office. Me? I would just wander in after Michael and make my way to the classroom while Michael had to be okayed to get in and out.

Kids are ferrying everything home, wrapping it securely and putting it through the courier system so they dont need to carry too much themselves.

We were also preparing and packing for home, but limited to one suitcase each plus a computer bag and back pack. We fitted it all in was surprised at the final weights, Warren's was 23.1 he had very little in his back pack, mine was 15.5 and my computer/laptop was in the computer bag which did get a bit heavy carrying it around the airport.

Socks

I hate wearing socks and usually go without. I guess the main I dont like them is the tops seem to be too tight. Nothing to do with me having fat ankles of course!
I did bring two pairs with me just in case it got cold enough to need them. Well, of curse it did, who was I trying to kid. I bought a couple of pairs of silk socks and there fine but quite light and therefore not very warm.

At the campus book store ,they had on offer socks, pretty cheap and I thought they would be good to wear in the apartment to help keep my feet warm. I only packed three pairs od shoes, well one of shoes and two pair of boots.

Well, I have been amazed, these socks are really comfortable and I can wear them with my boots and definitely no cold feet. I do think that they might be bed socks but I dont carr, my feet have not been cold. I bought some more as I am sure that I will be able to use them ln our UK walk and at 7 rmb, cheap as well.

Interesting walk

Surprisingly the weather is getting a little warmer and it is really nice to go out, still need a jacket though but my gloves have gone in the bin.

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Seen from one bridge up to the mountains.

Who put a stone stairway in the middle of a park? I did notice yesterday though that I went up much quicker than usual. There was a woman practising her drumming on the other side of the bridge. I knew she was there as the sound was bouncong off the buildings the other side of the canal. I have seen her there at other times as well.

I did intend to walk further but wearing a jacket and thick socks, I was starting to get a bit warm so took the shorter route home which lead past this little guy. He lives across the road from where i was walking but came over to say hello as he and his dad often see us. They both live or at least hang out near a small shop just out the North gate. r

Lunch for a less than a Dollar

Yep, that was how much my lunch cost me today, beats the tin of baked beans that I had yesterday for lunch. Warren was out today and I set out for a walk and picked up lunch to eat on the way. I usually only buy it when I am kn my own as he cant eat it.

It being like a flat bread with alittle meat and fermented vegetable mixed through jt and cooked over hot coals. When we were in Nanchang, that was my normal lunch.

This is the tub that they are cooked in. He rolls the flour mixture out, its about a handful and then attached it to the sides of the tub and allows to cook for a couple of minutes.

This morning when I got there, it was just before school finished for lunch and he had several already cooked. He put up four fingers to tell me the price and indicated for me to take one. Then he nodded to the side, ha, it was the till, I had a five yuan note out so I put the note jn and took a coin. It was good to see that while he is cooking he doesnt touch the money. A student comes in to help once finished school and she does all the money changing. Not much cash changes hand anyway as students pay using their phones, except high school students who are not allowed to have phones.
They use a qr code and then show the vendor that they have paid.

Helpful people

We were returning from the capital city this morning and after an early walk at the lake side, we waved down a taxi and went to the south bus station. We could have taken the subway/metro but our back packs were already starting heavier than when we left on Friday and we had only purchased a couple of things. A taxi would deliver us right outside whereas the subway would require several minutes of walking.

Purchased the tickets, even though we were only going to the next smaller city, fifty minutes away, we had to show both of our passports and then again when we went into the waiting area as well as having our bags scanned and a body scan like at the International airports. Warren had a bottle of mango juice with him and had to take a drink from it to show that it was alright, after he had drunk some he was able to go ahead.

Very few on the bus and we made good time, pulling into the guest/long distance bus station just under the fifty minutes. We headed for the smaller buses to catch one to school. Darn, the no 30 bus shut his doors when we were 20 metres away but I had seen a 63 when we were pulling jn and yes, he was still there and we were able to get on that with a couple of minutes to spare.

There were two women already on the bus and they both had what looked to be very big fish in large plastic bags. I caught their eye and asked by means kf some Chinese and some sign language, were they fish? And got confimation that they were indeed fish.
A conversation started and between us and them and the bus driver it was established that we were Shaoxingren, living here and yes we were english teachers and where we were teaching.  When they got off, we got a cheery wave and then we could see that the fish was dried and had been stretched out, they would be preparing for big feasts for Chinese new year in a few weeks.

Travelling along, the bus stopped at the west gate of the school and when we didnt make a move to get off tge driver looked around and told us in Chinese that it was our stop, we wanted to get off at the next one, near the south gate. By then several people were urging us to get off there. Our Chinese doesnt run to saying No we want the next stop so we thanked everyone and got off. It meant that we had a walk of about 1400 metres as opposed to an 800 metre walk but we knew they were trying to be helpful.fish

West Lake Hangzhou

We had a plan today to walk around one part of West Lake . It was a very nice day for walking cool but not freezing today and there was little wind but lots of people.

We walked over the Baide Causeway, it breaks up the lake and is only a walking road, no bikes no cars.

We had occassion to visit this place which was a garden and art type place. The steps were rough stones.

After lunch we walked across to the lake again and took a trolley bus/golf cart thingy around the other part of the lake.

Then there was this

China Silk Road

I had always called it the Silk markets and that was plan B for today. Plan A was to go one way around the lake and then return but as it was minus obe degree at 10am when we were wanting to go out, I suggested that we go to the silk place today rather than Monday. Monday is supposed to be warmer.

We set off and crossed the main road Yan'an Road, as it is so busy, there is an amazing structure with stairs and escalators going up, then walkways and down again. Plan B also included finding the foreign language book store, not that we need to buy any books but there used to be a great coffee shop attached. I discovered that although one could go there via the book store, it is a seperate business altogether.

We walked under a bridge at one stage and this was what we saw.

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Coffee shop after our walk was very welcome, had nice mocha and spag bol. Only down point with lunch was a woman who light up a cigarette at the next table. We found out that we had been put into the smokers area. We finished our meal quickly and left.

A wet day makes hot chocolate very welcome

We took a bus into town as I wanted to check out a couple of places for some gifts/trinkets to take home. The road that I wanted is called Lu Xun street which leads into Lu Xun village. He was a poet and wrote many famous poems in China and is quite looked up to, in this part of China. This was his birthplace and he was a very distinguished looking guy. Just as well because there is a very large wall at the entrance with his face on it, he had a moushache and is always shown smoking a cigarette.
When we first came here the village was here and it was a tourist attraction but over the years, it has become bigger and better.
There was a new restaurant just opened, can always tell when a new place opens by the flowers outside of the premises.

A hot chocolate at Starbucks to warm us and prepare us for the 4.6 km walk home

Hangzhou

First visit to Hangzhou is about five years. Its only an hour by bus from whete we are living and its rare for us to stay here but we are taking a break and intend to try to find some caches which also means we will be doing some walking. Walking and caching a win win situation.

Warren organized the hotel and it is opposite West Lake for which Hangzhou is famous. It is a beautiful lake and today it is freezing walling around it.

We have TV! And a King sized bed this one is super sized!
Even better than TV as we havent had tv since we have been here, I turned it on this afternoon and flicked through channels, knowing the cctv 5 does sport and there was Sydney tennis. Watched one game and went out walking and then an early dinner.

Now we are watching our young Aussie hopeful.

This is the king bed

English learning centres

These pop up on a regular basis and it seems that there is ample students for them to make a living. One of the biggest in China and has been for awhile is Web international. We have done a bit of work for them in the past mainly to help them out of a jam.

Web is mainly for adults, nights and weekends.

Younger kids often have extra English lessons and even this time we have been asked if we can do some extra work, which we declined gracefully I hope,  saying that we had to be on call to our college.

But I digress and this was one that we past the other day, it was on a major road although down one end so rents would not be as high. It was tucked in between a curtain shop and a car wash. Nothing downstairs, but the stairs leading up with all the countries and their flags.

Fishing in the canals

Walking along the canal the other day,  we came across two guys fishing, well one was fishing the other was followjng along behind totting an empty bucket. I assume he was there to carry the catch, he maybe have been the back up for pulling in the fish. I did ask if they had any and was rewarded with a shake of the head and was shown the empty bucket.
When I say he may have been the relief or back up fisherman, we saw that it took great arm strength to pull up the net. It was dropped in, that was not a problem left for a couple of minutes then he crossed his arms and hoisted the net. The muscles in his arms really came into play when he hauled it in.

The poles are bamboo and the net stretched about three metres with small weights on it. We watched him throw it in a bout four times walking up the canal a few metres and throwing it in again. Twice he had to walk around a woman washing clothes in the canal. Everytime we walk by the canals there is always at least one woman washing clothes in there. Last night, I left for a walk at 4.30, this is the middle of winter and half way around on a different part of the canal where two women washing clothes and one washing vegetables. It is not the cleanest looking water either.

I need a bigger suitcase!

I have always admired these.

The bigger one on the right came almost up to my shoulder.
Goodness knows what I would do with one or two. I particularly like the one on the right with the flowers no less or the blue and yellow ones.

Doesnt matter which one I like, cause theyre are not going home with us. I just have to be content with a photo and also keep the money in my pocket as I am sure they wojld run into the hundreds of Rmb.

Our favourite pottery store has moved on but this one is on the edge of the old or ancient markets, a great place to wander thru.

Pesky things

Warren has a class tomorrow so he wanted to do some prep this morning. As we have no printer here, we need to do the work put it on usb drive and then wander over to the office in office hours to print it.

He did his prep and I tidied the book case where we keep our resources and most other stuff that one accumulates. I noticed he was looking for something. Conversation goes like this.
You looking for something?
Yeah, my usb, you seen it?
Well, you used it friday to print my stuff off but I put it on the table.
You sure?
Yes, it was in the folder with my printing for fridays class but i knew you would want it so I took it out and threw it over to you. Both of us are picking up papers and looking under things.
Well, its not here, you havent seen it
Not since then. Starting to wonder if it was friday that i gave it back.
Where is the folder we took to english corner?
Here but its not in there. When did you last have it. Friday i thought. I must have left it in class. But you didnt use it unless the music was on it? No, that was on my phone.
Both of us madly pulling things off the bookcase. These usbs have all kur work prep plus photos plus marks etc. We could recover most but lots of work. Decide that it is lost and we would have to spend the day going from computer to a second usb when Warren puts his hand in his pocket and sheepishly says, oops just found it!
My comment, you are buying lunch.

It is only little, it is alongside a park of cards

Murals on the walls

Today we went to eat at the canteen and being Saturday it was not very busy and I was able to take some photos.

Our meals are in the front with Warren off to the side.

These two fill one side of the canteen, very

true to life, the black covered boats are traditional here on the canals.

Upsizing

Yesterday we went out, the plan was to go for soup and hot chocolate as ut was a cold, wet and miserable day. Nothing like soup and hot choccy to warm ones insides up, right.

Only thing is that we had to brave the weather to get there, as we have no cooking facilities in the apartment.

We rug up, grab the imbrellas and head to the bus station, as the terminal is just across from the gates, there was no oroblems getting a seat, we were the only ones on for several stops. Still raining when we reached Shi Mou shopping centre where Fizz Pizza is located. The rain was fairly pelting down and we were keeping close to the shops as there was some overhang to keep the rain off. Well, one of those shop fronts was Pizza Hut, we wanted pizza and that was closer and they also have soup and hot choccy.

In we went and of course directed to the second floor, the door person was on the walkie talkie as we were climbing the stairs. "Liang ge le weis" telling the staff upstairs that two foreigners were coming up. We were greeted with smiles, shown to a seat and given menus. Hum, there was a large pizza on the front with different toppings. I asked if that, pointing to it was that price 88rmb, again pointing to the price. A nod of the head to comfirm it but she pointed to the other side which said 176rmb for 2 and then run the pen down the side. Warren then took over as he thought that he would like dessert. Between us and our limited Chinese and the menu, we thought we knew what we were getting and jt was pretty close.

For the sum of 176, there was the pizza, two hot chocolates, a salad and a soup and two dessert.

Soup and salad, we selected fruit salad which came with mayonaisse as usual here but you know it does taste good surprisingly, inthe back ground was the big mug if chocolate.

Then the pizza! Nine little squares of different, one had prawns, one mushrooms, a couple had sweet corn and chicken, couple with sausage type meat, one with lots of chilli which was the only little in the middle that got left.

Then dessert, oh my goodness! The left one was cake and cream, nice but the one on the right, we cut them in half to have half each, was like a soft mousse with a denser mousse on the outside then coated in a dusting of chocolate dust? It was so yummy and so rich, I didnt quite finish my half.

Then came paying the bill, I knew that I had lots of small notes in  my wallet that I wanted to use up, they are hard to convert back to our currency, some places wont even take them Warren did wonder if I was scraping the barrel to see if we had to wash dishes or not. Too cold to do anything after so we just rolled back over to the bus stop and made our way home caught a bus that we hadnt caught before but we remembered that it went past the south gate and better than that it stopped right outside, bonus.

Rum Balls Chinese style

I made rum balls to take to classes so the kids had someting else to eat and try besides sandwiches. I had made these before so knew I could similar ingredients to make them. They were very basic but had the taste and texture.

First I had to source the fruit and yes, able to buy sultanas, not mixed dried fruit, little school supermaket had condensed milk in tubes but there were some tins which I thought was condensed milk, it had a panda on the outside. I opened it and yes! It was condensed milk. Warren had Australian oats bought here for breakfast so that was it oats sultanas and condensed milk with a little bit of coffee for flavour. Rolled in sugar. Not a drop of rum anywhere.

I got out container to put them in and realised they were not big enough. Warren suggested tge coffee boxes. We keep them just in case they could be used for something and they could. Used a plastic sleeve to line the bottom and they were good to go. I am never sure how many will turn up but I allow for 12 to 15 each class, I preped 24 for each class, some had two and there were a few to bring home again, luckily for Warren. We finished the last tonight.

Food!

One would think I was hungry as this is another blog entry on food but no, I did a lesson on food yesterday to one of my classes. Its a concept that I have not taught before and it has been hard to get my head around it.

I have two lessons back to back of 40 minutes, shorter than I am used to with two lots of students. It is also a taxi ride away. Their English is pretty good and I did ask them what they wanted re lessons, they came up with fashion, music, movies and food.

Music and movies? talking to teenagers, not me. However, last week we did clothes, maybe not what they thought but they learnt new words and try to play a game just not how I expected them to play. This week was food! Again so new words and then I had them make sandwiches, they had fun, had something to eat and got to use knives, butter etc that they would not usually use.

Food Delivery

We have noticed a lot of food been delivered by courier, people ripping up the footpaths on ebikes to collect and then take to businesses or homes. Even seen outside of school campus waiting for some one to come and collect.

We were enjoying a burger at Burger King a couple of weeks ago and in the space of the time it took for us to consume our meal, there had been eight delivery people came in to pick up. They leave their helmets on and go to a special counter.

I have a bit of a giggle when I see their logo on their shirts bikes and containers, it is a speeding kangaroo.

 This guy was waiting at lights to continue, the food is a hot box between his feet. It is just not fast food venues, there is a street of small restaurants that we often walk along thank goodness it does have wide footpaths as its common to be walking along and several of these bikes pull in, collect and shoot off again. Time is money I guess and the quicker they do it the more money they earn.a

Drying meat

First Happy New Year to all.
We often see meat drying, it is quite common place here. Only ducks and fish though and I had a thought of why? It is for flavour? Is it left over from years ago before fridges and supermarkets?

Out with a friend yesterday and just before he arrived, we had seen more on the footpath so I asked him why it was.

It is partly flavour and a way to perserve the meat. Mainly old ways to ensure there is plenty of food available at Spring festival (Chinese new year)when family visit. We were told that it is done only in this area and we realised that we had not seen it in other parts of China.

It is common to see ducks drying alongside of clothes drying in the sun. I dont think anything to put on them just using the sun. We did have a roast duck yesterday, it was very crispy skin, very tasty.