Exams

So this weekend many of the university students will have had the TEM4 (Test for English Majors) exam. This is a national exam, and it is very important to pass in order to get a bettter job.

There are many of these national english exams for university students in China; CET4, CET6, TEM4, TEM8, etc… They are not that easy, and have sections on vocabulary, dictation, composition, cloze, passage and note-taking.
Even for the native speaker these exams can be somewhat confusing, especially the vocabulary section. Here’s some examples:

 6. ____ man can now create radioactive elements, there is nothing he can do to reduce their radioactivity.
 

A.    As
B.    Whether
C.    While
D.    Now that

 

5.____ his knowledge and academic background, he is basically stupid.

A.    But for
B.    According to
C.    For all
D.    Thanks to

 

53. Britain’s press is unusual _____ it is divided into two very different types of newspaper: the quality press and the popular press.

A. in how
B. in what
C. in which
D. in that

25. According to the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, wisdom comes from the _____ of maturity.
A.    fulfillment
B.    achievement
C.    establishment
D.    accomplishment

32. All experts agree that the most important consideration with diet drugs is carefully ____ the risks and benefits.
A.    weighing
B.    valuing
C.    evaluating
D.    distinguishing

It’s a shame that they don’t have national exams in speaking, as this is argueably the most important thing for them to master, if they are to use english in their future line of work.  Though I wonder how they would be able to examin spoken english exams, the simply don’t have the manpower to be able to do it.

But what I wanted to get on to is the topic of cheating.  Before I came to China, I thought cheating was 100% wrong.  Bad. Something you just don’t do. 

However, living here has altered my perception somewhat.  

In China cheating is an industry, it’s big business, it’s Institutionalised. 

It’s really quite simple to do, here’s a guide for the un-iniatated:.

 

  1. Contact that phone number on one of the many posters dotted around campus that advertises ‘how to get the answers’
  2. Make arrangements with friends on how to split the costs involved.  i.e. 1500yuan/10 people = 150yuan each. suddenly it becomes affordable.
  3. Decide on what answers to buy – there are many sources – afterall this is a business. Costs vary from 1000yuan up to 3000yuan and so does the quality, so i’m told. 
  4. Hire any necessary communication devices that may be required.  Walkie-talkie ear-piece devices that can allow someone outside the exam hall to feed information to the recipiet. (virtually undetectable to those with long hair)

 

That’s it. Really simple and easy and cheap. I know students that have paid as little as 100 yuan (as a group of ten) and 40yuan each to hire the listening equipment. 

  However, sometimes the ‘cheat’ answers are wrong, and there is no guarantee that you will pass.  Of course there is a chance that you might get caught, and if you are really clumsy that might happen, though I doubt it.   If you do get caught, you’ll just get a slap on the wrists. You won’t get kicked out of university, and it will make no difference to anything of any consequence. 

 The examiners know this goes on, it’s part and parcel, par for the course.  Indeed, one wonders where the answers originate from, maybe the examiners are making a fast buck, who knows.

 

And so when my student’s ask me ‘is it okay to cheat?’  I say it is most certainly not okay, in my professional opinoion. In my personal opinion I think there is no problem with it, it is just another case of playing the system, to your maximum advantage. 

 

PC

An interesting point came up in one of my classes yesterday, when we were having a debate on cultural differences.  One of my students started to use the word ‘nigger’ when making reference to black people.  Of course this word is now unacceptable and has negatvie connotations and is considered racist by most. 

 The reference was in his vocab book, and other students knew the word and thought it was okay to use in general conversation.   I told them that this is word that is no longer in general use and it’s meaning is pejorative, and shouldn’t be used. 

I told my class that in english we no longer refer to Chinese people as Orientals or Chinamen or worse Wogs. They asked me why is this?  

Why don’t I call you all the ‘Sick man of East Asia’  东亚病夫 ‘dong1 ya4 bing4 fu1’ or maybe you refer to me as ‘British big nose’  ‘英国大鼻子’ ‘ying1 guo2 da4 bi2 zi5’

 I said that preventing discrimination and increasing equal opportunities – in recent years- have become an important cornerstone in society, the idea that everyone is entitled to be treated on hi/her own merits. And this is reflected in the type of language people use. I also said that times change, and peoples attitudes change with them, words are the same. Words change over time, language is not static.  It evolves over time. 

I think they understood, though It must be strange to be told that using a word in your native language is okay, but using it in english is not.  A good example of this in Chinese is 外国人 (wai4 guo2 ren2)  or 老外 (lao3 wai4) both meaning foreigner.  Chinese people use these words to describe anyone who is not from China.  It’s okay and accepted – although many foreigers that I know don’t like it when they are referred to as 老外 (lao wai). 

If I say for example ‘look at the foreigners’  it could be considered offensive.  But if I am Chinese and I say ‘wai guo ren’ ‘kan’ ‘kan’- no problem.

It’s difficult not to sound like a racist when making such comparisons, i guess it is mainly a question of different cultures having different ways of doing things. 

 Another word that came to my attention was ‘cripple’.  my immediate reaction was to laugh -i didn’t think she actually said that word!- then I told them that ‘disabled’ is perhaps a better word to use.  They didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘disabled’  (actually the meaning of disabled is quite different from cripple) and thought it odd that words become fall out of use because they are deemed politically incorrect.

 So I gave some more examples: policeman, fireman, chairman (Chairperson Mao doesn’t quite have the same ring to it!), worker, foreigner, etc etc etc.  

For me one of the good things about the Chinese language is that they don’t worry about  political correctness as much as other languages, and this is reflected in the english that many of the students use.  

The question is when do I tell a student that the language he (or she) is using is not politically correct?  

 Personally I just use my common sense. If someone wants to use the word ‘workman’ then fine, if they use ‘cripple’ then i’ll tell them what I think.

Maybe there is a danger of going to far, for example, manhole cover being replaced by maintance cover. Waitron for waitress or waiter,   the list goes on – replacing these words seems like a waste of time to me.
If the language is sexist/racist or pejorative then fair game, but  I don’t agree with change for change’s sake.
Here is a good example I found, allbeit a little over the top:

The fireman put a ladder up against the tree, climbed it, and rescued the cat”

The firefighter (who happened to be male, but could just as easily have been female) abridged the rights of the cat to determine for itself where it wanted to walk, climb, or rest, and inflicted his own value judgments in determining that it needed to be ‘rescued’ from its chosen perch. In callous disregard for the well-being of the environment and his and others health and safety, and this one tree in particular, he thrust the mobility-disadvantaged unfriendly means of ascent known as a ‘ladder’ carelessly up against the tree, marring its bark, and unfeelingly climbed it, unconcerned how his display of physical prowess might injure the self-esteem of those differently-abled. He kidnapped and unjustly restrained the innocent feline with the intention of returning it to the person who claimed to ‘own’ the naturally free animal. The firefighter later filed a lawsuit claiming compensation for unjustly suffering the indignity which happened to breach his Human Rights and exposure to possible injury that climbing a tree entails. He won 100% compensation, thus making tree climbing impossible forever. The council later cut the tree down to avoid such an incident occurring again.

 

I’m back!

I’m writing this entry from a net cafe at lunch time. Many, many things have happened over the last two months, some good some not so good.

The Updates have been rather sparse recently, mainly due to my intransigence and bad mood. I haven’t had the will to write anything much less log on the net, type, add pictures etc…

Christmas, the new year and the Spring festival have all passed by. I worked on Christmas day, and the new year was also pretty low key. I spent most of Janyary working at a local primary school, wasn’t much fun and I really loathed having to get up at 6.30 to go and do it. Of course I wasn’t meant to do any childrens classes after the new year, but they said they had no other teachers, so I did them a favour, and grudgingly obliged.

The School I was working at is quite a good school out in the east of the city, but that said, it’s still a primary school. Looking back I’m glad that I have the experience of doing this, it makes me really appreciate just how much better it was last year teaching at 长师。 I used to think there were problems there, but it pales into insignificance compared to some of the things I have had to face in the past few months.

So come the end of January the Spring Festival was upon us. Two weeks of fireworks – or more accuratly – insendury devices exploding morning noon and night. I remember this from last year, and it’s really quite spectacular. Especially on night of the new year, when come midnight, the night sky is constantly lit-up for at least 2 hours by multitudes of fireworks. Really quite special, and there is nothing quite like it back home – Bonfire night doesn’t even come close!

However, after 2 weeks of banging and being woken up at 4am by explosions large enough to destroy a small farm, it gets rather annoying.

I bought some great fireworks, spent about 100元 total. Two long bazooka looking devices, one red stick of TNT (I kid you not!!) , a bag of little green mock hand-grenades, some 3000 red bangers strapped together and something akin to a Roman candle. This was more like a Roman firebomb, I almost killed myself by not retiring the full 1000 metres as required – was incredibly loud, i couldn’t hear much the next morning, except a high pitched ringing sound. Now I fully understand why these things are illegal in the UK!

So the Spring festival was a welcome break from teaching and allowed me time to re-focus my energy elsewhere; namely, what to do next semester. My job wasn’t what i had been led-to-expect, and it was making me feel really unhappy about things.

So I decided that I was no longer going to work with kids, full stop.

I could just walk-away, afterall it’s a good time of year for jobs, and the perfect time to start studying for the new semester. But at the time I thought it prudent to keep in my employers good-books and not piss him off by resigning or vanishing into thin air.

However my decision was made for me when a couple of days into February I got a call from him. He said that there was no work available during Feb (except kids classes at god-awful qinguha) and that he suggested I take the ‘month-off’. I said that ‘you leave me with little choice’ so i took the month off. He then went on to say they would be unable to pay for my apartment, because, I was having the ‘month-off’.

This was the final straw, and is what ultimately led to my leaving the company.
(Lesson learned: NEVER work for a company dealing with foreigm teachers in Changchun. They are all money grabbing opportunists who prey upon naive first timers/those that can’t get work elsewhere/those that have no other choice at the time (me) Please take it from me, AVOID AVOID AVOID )

So he wanted me to have the ‘month-off’ at my own expense, and still continue to honour the contract for the next semester。I think not. You can’t cherrypick which parts of the contract to enforce and which parts to ignore. You most certainly can’t threaten your teachers with visa-cancellation if they refuse to continue to work, as they did when I said i can no longer work if you keep on moving the goal posts when it suits you.
Anyway, as of last wednesday I disappeared. I changed my phone number and moved on. I said nothing of my future plans to anyone and just upped-sticks; gone.

It’s all very sad that this is how things have to be done, but doing things ‘the right way’ or as you would back home (i.e go to the authorities) , cuts no mustard here. I learnt that before and i’m not about to make the same mistake twice.
Will post more exact details later!

BTW for those that want to know My QQ address is: 125873000

David

Legal Again

Long time no post, lots to say.

So I have a visa and I have a Foreign Expert’s book:D . Took a bit longer than i thought, and there are still many things I am not happy with; but at least now, I’m legal oncemore.
FEC book

I’m dealing with this company that are legal (I have seen originals of their licences ((could be fake I hear you say!)) though I highly doubt it) however they are a private company, and being China, their primary purpose is to make as much money as possible, at the detriment of everything else. Which is fair game, it’s how it works here. Now, I am fully aware of this, and I realise that I have to play by a different set of rules.

The company itself employs over 20 other foreign teachers in and around the city. Some working for schools five days a week. Others, like myself, work in many places. For the last month or so I have been working every weekend, doing 16 hours or so, teaching or rather entertaining children. I find the whole experience not much fun and I really hate to do it, and I’m not someones that hates things lightly.

There is no teaching involved whatsoever, the students english is so limited that it becomes impossible to have the class purely in english. It’s great chinese speaking practise for me, but ultimately I feel very drained and tired from the repitition of each class. The children, usually 5-10 years old have a foreign teacher’s class once a month. I feel sorry for the kids, their pushy parents make them go to extra classes at the weekend, usually both Saturday and Sunday, for anything up to 4 hours each day. These classes ae not cheap, 300-400yuan per month (half a months average wage in Changchun).

The classes are sometimes okay at 15 students per class, but 80% of them have between 30-40 kids per class. Crammed into a tight room, sitting neatly along the colourful benches, behind yellow coloured desks.
I’m not an educational expert, but at least providing the teacher with a chair – or even a stool – is a must in a classroom. Not that I sit down when I teach, but I can’t stand all day; for having 8 hours of classes, and having to perch on the end of a student’s desk isn’t good enough.

Of course I’m given no information whatsoever on the level of the classes beforehand, I am not told what they have/hav not been previously taught. I am not given copies of their books, each class seems to have a different textbook .

This isn’t a problem to me, I’m used to it.

I have lots of my own lessons I can do with them, but it just shows how much they value the foreign teacher’s classes. Rather than integrating them with the Chinese teachers’ classes, they are seen as a joke, a circus, a chance to ‘play games’, a chance to look at the tall man with the brown hair and the strange coloured eyes.
Which is fine if that’s what they want me to do, however it’s not what I’m here for.

The place I am talking about is Qinghua language school for children in Changchun. They have many different branches all accross the city, some are better than others – but as a general rule they seem to be preoccupied with profit not education.
I have taught at lots of other different language centres in Changchun, and they are not all like this. However it’s a job and job = visa, and that’s what is most important at the moment.

If they employed me as an entertainer or clown then this would be the ideal job; but I’m no childrens entertainer or pantomime performer. Sometimes I feel like I sould bring some of those stretchy balloons with me to class, and make-up a poodle or a giraffe or even a rabbit!

I feel that the foreign teacher’s class at this school is simply a status thing. So the pushy parents can tell other pushy parents that their little emporer has a foreign teacher at the weekends.

As much as I distrust the private sector in China, I came to the conclusion that for the timebeing at least, this is my only real option. Mainly because of it being mid-term and there being nothing else available, I don’t want to go home yet, and I don’t want to leave China with a sour taste in my mouth. So Things are a little better than they were a month ago. And-for what it’s worth- I have it from my new employer that I will not be teaching children beyond the new year. They paid me on-time last week, although they made me pay for my visa (400yuan – despite what the contract says!) which is disingenuous of them -but that’s another story, and at this moment I have neither the time or the energy to argue .

Anyway, now i have another class. Must go

David

Oh dear. The preverbial has hit the fan…

The last few days have been pretty crazy.

The story begins on last Wednesday afternoon when we got paid. Our boss gave us our pay, but charged us 1000¥ for the visa. I was not happy about this for various reasons.

Firstly, that I did not have my visa yet, and I never pay for something before I get the goods in China. Secondly, I was not convinced that the visas they were getting were the correct visas or genuine. Mike – who has already got his visa – does not have the red Foreign Experts Certificate book. I know for a fact that we should have this along with the Residence permit for foreigners sticker in the passport. When I challenged my boss about this, she said that they were no longer issuing such a red book. I did not believe this for one second. I know that the FEC is being changed, but I also know that this is not until 2006. I also know other teachers who have recently got theirs.
I then said is this a business visa, F visa, but my boss was adamant and insisted that the FEC no longer was issued and that this was the correct visa.

I asked where was my passport, do you have it? I need it back. She replied with saying that it’s still with the PSB. Still with the PSB for 2 months ?(we had all given her our papers at the beginning of September) Why have you taken so long to do this? Her answer didn’t make any sense. She said because your visa doesn’t expire until 6th November, so we only started the process yesterday. So then why did you keep on telling for the last two months that my visa was being processed at the PSB – and that you didn’t have it? Anyway to cut this short, she continued to lie. Even concocting a story that the officer in charge of issuing visas was on holiday for 15 weeks in Germany!!!

So, we all took out pay – thankful that we got anything – and left. I then decided that for me at least, enough was enough. I called her office and gave her an ultimatum. You will have my passport – with or without visa – in my hand by 1pm this afternoon. Failing this, I am calling informing my embassy that you are withholding a
government document. This proved to be a very bad thing to do.

The day after this, I also found out from a close colleague of mine that they were using foreign passports to buy cars, because with a foreign passport you can pay half the amount of tax. Some of the other foreign teachers agreed to this (why?? clearly blinded by money) for the poor sum of 2000RMB. My friend refused. He was then asked to meet with my boss, in the back of a blacked-out-Audi (the car of choice in Changchun for commie officials) to discuss this.

What happend next is disgraceful, and could only happen in a country like China.

In the front seats of the car were two shady looking people, that were introduced our our boss’s boss.
Mike was then handed a document indicating that a car had been bought ( a Mercedes Benz no less) for 100,000 US Dollars- he was told that he must sign this to confirm the sale of the car. Naturally he refused, yet they insisted to the point where they said – if you don’t sign this, we’ll fire you and cancel you visa. He still refused and left the car.

So on Friday I spent most of the day at the police station explaining the situation. (Another mistake) The officer was very detailed and methodical in his questioning of me, I was initially quite impressed with this. He had on his desk a huge file with my passport on the outside, covered in various post-it notes. He said that who ever had applied for this was illegal, he showed us fake business licences, and other forged documents used for the application. He was most displeased with this, and asked me exactly who my boss is and for what company she ran. I gave him all the information he wanted, and this ended up taking a full 4 hours to complete.
He said – (only in china!! ) – that I should continue working for the university, as if i stopped it would prejudice me, as i would have broken the contract!!!! Despite the fact the contract was already illegal!!! He said come back on Monday morning to collect your passport, and he said he’d give us a few days to arrange a new visa. I felt quite pleased at the outcome of this, and naively thought justice might actually be done.

Fat Chance.

Come Monday the situation had turned on its head. For some reason unknown to us – we were now dealing with a different police officer, very senior and sinister looking.
His first question was ‘Where did you work last before’ then ‘Why did you work for this company’ then ‘How old is your boss’. This line of questioning was irrelevant and a waste of time. It was as if he was trying to give the perception of legitimacy. It was at the moment, that I started to regret coming to the police in the first place. Now, I could see what his game was – he was now accusing us of negligence for deciding to work for this company, because they are illegal. Despite the fact that we, before signing the contract, asked to see the licence to hire foreign teachers, and visas in others passports s proof of their status. And of course they said, over and over again they were legal to employ foreigners. Anyway this policeman was pining the blame on us, when the policeman on Friday said we had nothing to worry about.
He then said that because the company is illegal, YOU are illegal and so the contract is illegal. Therefore the contract is terminated by the government of the PR China. Therefore you are fired. But the company is free to continue trading – It still has at least 7 other foreigners working illegally for it – this was becoming a stitch-up. The stench of corruption was overpowering.

So because we (myself and a colleague) went to the police, about the illegal use of foreigners’ passports – in effect being forced to commit a criminal act, or face possible deportation for not having a valid visa – WE WERE WRONG!

Of course, i hear you say ‘ but this is China, you should have expected this’ – and I know that this is a danger of coming to a country riddled with corruption and the lack of a basic rule of law. But, I never thought anything like this could happen, and I never assumed it would have such serious consequences.

This is where the story turns really nasty. Now, the police (FYI they are the police at the Renmin Guangchang station, foreign affairs unit, Changchun; a certain Mr li.) have done this, I have no visa. my visa is void. and being China – this is completely MY FAULT!! So the police said they would give us a few days to find new jobs, whereupon the new employer can get a new working visa issued. Straight forward you might think, however the police refuse to hand over our passports – saying they are doing us a favour – by giving us time to find a new job. And so the new employer has to phone them directly to apply for the visa – i have been told that this is highly irregular.
I had a new job lined up at another university i had been working closely with for a few months, and they offered me a position. However, of course, they needed my passport to start the application process and to get this they had to call the police station.
I received a reply from the university FAO office that they could no longer offer me the position. What the Hell! WHY??? – apparently they got a call from their superior telling them not to hire me.

In other words, I was, and still am being screwed. I now know that my former employer has very serious guanxi (connections) in this city, and i suspect that they are now being used to make my friends and my own life, as difficult as possible.


Another strange thing which happend, is that the police introduced me to a company called TianShuo. (They too have serious guanxi with the PSB here ) I know what a disgusting reputation this company has, but didn’t tell them of this. (BTW – They are known to illegally withold passports, and generally give foreign teachers a really hard time.) They showed me a contract. I have studied contract law as part of my degree, and I can safely say that this is BY FAR the most unfair, one sided contract i have ever seen in my life.
Anyone who would sign such a document must either have a gun held to their head, or be just be plain stupid.

So at the moment life has suddenly become really difficult. I have asked for help from everyone I know here, and many have said either leave the province or the country (!), and start again. I don’t want to do this, as i like it here – and i don’t want those bastards to win.

I have also got legal advice on this matter from some professionals, and sadly as i thought, the law is worthless.

I have to thank all of my students who have been absolutely brilliant in supporting me throughout this difficult situation, in giving me advice and helping me in what I should do. I owe you all.

You’re maybe thinking why I haven’t gone to my embassy about this yet; well this is my last resort. If I go there, I will get my passport back, but it will cause me problems in being able to stay in the country. And I’m not quite that desperate yet!!!
I now have a policy – when money is involved – to judge chinese people guilty until proven otherwise, this way I protect my own interests first

Yours

David

got paid!

Finally got paid yesterday, and to my surprise, in full; including the extra overtime. Also got the visa situation sorted out, though I’m not too happy at forking out the extra 1500元 for the privilege. Apart from this, I’m pretty pleased. Especially, that I don’t have to go and do the pointless medical exam for an extension to my Z visa.
Over the last week, my student’s have started to slack in their attendance at my classes. Unlike the Chinese teachers, I have quite a laissez-faire approach to whether students come to my class or not, they all know this. They also know that if they persistently don’t attend, then it will affect their final grade.
Unfortunately I’m going to have to start to require they attend every class, if they miss three then their mark will be adversely affected.
It’s a shame that I have to do this, they are all adults. I shouldn’t have to treat them like children, but due to the way things work here (all their other classes have compulsory attendance, with 3 missed classes = fail) understandably they take advantage of my class being more laid-back.

Just worked out how to attach this form to a post, so now it’s easier to send me feedback.

Questions, Questions

Here’s the answers to some of those questions that have been asked by some my new students, over the last couple of weeks. So as promised, here are the brief answers:

“Where do you come from?” UK
“Can you use chopsticks” Yes
“Are you cold?” No, and you can’t catch a cold by opening the window on a bus
“How tall are you?” 1.87m ish
“How old are you?” 23
“Why you come to China?” To teach and learn
“Do you like Chinese food?” yes
“Is Chinese food delicious?” yes
“Do you like Chinese girl?” yes
“Can you speak Chinese?” some
“Do you very like CS?” So so
“Do you like basketball?” No
“Do you have QQ?” Yes it’s 125873000
“What do you do in the morning?” Get up, shower, eat, go to work
“What do you do in your free time?” Sleep, study, eat
“What are your hobbies?” Sleeping, playing CS, reading etc…
“Where have you been in China?” A few cities, not been to the south yet
“How do you buy things?” I use money, just like you!
“Do you use bus?” Yes, everyday
“How do you get to China?” Hot-air balloon, then hitchiked via Mongolia
“How long you been in China?” 11 months
“Where do you live?” Off-campus
“How do I improve my oral english?” Practice, Practice, Practice
“Can you sing us a song?” No
“Do you eat KFC everyday?” No
“What’s your favourite Chinese food?” 宫煲鸡丁
“Do you like China?” Yes
“Do you like Changchun?” Yes
“Do you colour your hair?” No
“When are you online?” All the time, but I’m not always there!
“Can I have you mobile phone number?” No, it’s a secret.
“Do you like Chinese pop music?” Generally no, though I like some

Any more questions??????

Then post a comment !!!

New DVD Player

� David @ 7:56 pm

I bought a DVD player last weekend, cost me about 20 pounds for a muli region and mp3 player. Thought I ought to buy it as DVDs are about 50p each here in Changchun.
If there is a DVD of it, then it will be on sale here in Changchun.
There are MASSIVE stores that sell electronic goods, and I have never seen so many DVDs on sale in one place.

This weekend I also got a Short Wave radio, one of my students told me that I could get the world service – so that is something I will try and do tonight.

Also I saw my first foreigners outside the college for three weeks, a bus of them infact! I managed to speak to one of them later on, when i was in the supermarket, and it turned out that they were Germans who spoke very good english. They were an orchestra who were playing that very night in Changchun as part of a tour of China.

Today I was teaching from 8- 10 and from 3-5. The weather is on the turn, yesterday some workers came around and turned the heating on in my apartment. It took three of them to turn the two taps that reconnected the water supply.

It is almost always sunny here, with not a cloud in the sky, but what strikes me most about the weather is that the temperature drops so rapidly so quickly. Come mid aftertoon it gets very very cold. I�m reliably informed that January and February are the coldest months.

Have found a good Chinese teacher, and I have a 2 hour lesson tomorrow – 8 hours a week in total.
Today I managed to order my meal and pay for it all in chinese!!

I have just got back from my evening meal, where I had some chicken in a kind of stew, egg and tomato fried and some tree fungus (which tastes very good!)
Considering it only cost me 20 rmb including beer it wasn�t bad. I think that it is cheaper to et out here than it is to buy the food at the supermarket. For example, at most lunch times I go with a couple of other foreign teaches to a restaurant on campus, we have �goo la roe�, which is a very good dish of fried chicken and vegetables. That and drink, usually tea, cost me 11rmb. If i want to but this at the shop it would cost me about double that – still very cheap though.

I have to teach for 6 hours tomorrow, finishing at three – long day ahead. I am extremely tired, infact I am always tired – I think most of the foreign teachers are exhausteda lot of the time. I have taken on another extra 6 hours of teaching a week, that fits nicely into my schedule at 80RMB an hour – which works out at almost adding 50% more to my final take home pay!

anyway, must go. need sleep.

The weather today

The weather today