Top articles
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open your eyes
Uh, actually, some of the trees around here are blossoming... I looked out the classroom window today, out over the quad at the centre of the university's original buildings, and saw, way out in the middle, one tree covered in pale pink blossoms. It was...
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grey
After yesterday's brilliance, opening the curtains this morning was a bit of a let-down, to say the least. Grey. Then, because the local central heating plants are still running (although apparently not ours), I looked at the free barometer I enjoy all...
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rambling again
Something in this post by Poneke set my mind off on yet another tangent.... I was born the year Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong died. 1976, for those who don't get the reference. Year of the Dragon, for those who need the Chinese calendar (May, so no, there's...
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cold
It was still raining when we left home early yesterday morning. After sitting through a ridiculous traffic jam on the Third Ring, we eventually made it to Nongzhanguan, then hung a left and drove down to Dongzhimen then around the Second Ring to Deshengmen....
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back, and tired
We're back in Beijing. I'll tell you one thing: One way to guarantee you don't get a good night's sleep is to share a kang with people who have been getting up literally at the crack of dawn, or even earlier, for their entire lives. It doesn't help when...
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air new zealand...
So the Air Cheap Bastards We Don't Pay Our Chinese Flight Crew Peanuts saga seems to have almost died a quiet death.... Yeah, except that this google.cn search led somebody to this blog, and, well, just look at that first page of results. So, yeah, Air...
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and while I'm rambling...
The vernal equinox has made its presence felt. This morning it was an apartment block further south than those that were lit up over the winter that was hit by the rising sun. It's almost perfectly due east of our lounge room window, maybe a centimetre...
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interesting headlines
So I'm trying to delay going to the office to mark tests- which desperately need to be got out of the way so I can focus on HSK prep (hahahahhahahhahahahahaha!) and I don't get swamped with the next round of tests coming- oh, straight after HSK. Anyway,...
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blind mountain
So we picked up a few DVDs yesterday afternoon, among which was 李杨/Li Yang's 《盲山》/ Blind Mountain . I'm wondering if this is going to turn into a "Blind" series, each film exploring another of modern China's social ills. If Li Yang is not careful, he...
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making themselves heard
And so it seems Chinese people are making themselves heard in France. But two little things stuck out at me, a little comparison suggests itself. In the second article, the one about Chinese protesting in Paris, we have this: Un rassemblement pour réaffirmer...
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and Paris reacts
So Sarkozy deems it necessary to send two envoys to mend fences and patch up France's relations with China. Opération rapprochement. Nicolas Sarkozy tente par tous les moyens de renouer avec Pékin alors que plusieurs manifestations anti-occidentales ont...
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legal
So I'm legal for another year. Well, a year and a bit, actually. The whole residence permit extension process went through without a hitch.... for my two colleagues. For me, well... I arrived just before lunch time this morning with colleague K to collect...
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恐怖分子
我最害怕的恐怖分子不是基地组织，而是小学生。 你们现在都说：“怎么回事？什么小学生会当恐怖分子？”你们想一下：你一个成人跟四十多个六岁的小孩子在一间教室里。可怕吗？就是最恐怖的！ 我在长沙的学校有两部分：小学和中学。我离开新西兰之前没人告诉我那所学校有小学的一部分。每一个人都说我去中国当中学的教师。到了长沙英语系的系长告诉我：“哦！顺便说一下：你在我们学校的小学部工作！” 我说：“。。。。。！” 然后，在我房子里，没人在，只是我一个人的时候，我特别大声说： “FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!”...
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In which Chris indulges in a little name dropping
So I started blogging about three years ago. It's strange, because in that time I've gotten to know a few people online through their blogs and yet, until last night, I'd never met them. I'm sure that we'd passed on the street or in a bar, probably several...
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idiot
So a friend sent me a link to a post on China Travel Guide forums by one griz326 entitled Is the Chinese language dead? She asked for my help in setting this Griz character straight. I don't know why, she's a professional linguist, has been studying Chinese,...
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春节
So it's New Year's Eve again. It seems everybody else in the village stocked up enough explosives to supply the army of a small nation. Or perhaps the New Zealand Army, in which case they'd still have enough left overs to celebrate the New Year having...
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more blah
Alright, so we're back. In fact, we've been back for three nights and two days now. I just haven't had a decent night's sleep since the 29th. Quick note: All dates in this post are by the lunar calendar unless the word solar appears in brackets after...
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scanners, taxks and trees
In order to apply for jobs I needed to scan my passport and degree. One British organization with a school in Beijing had asked for these documents and so it suddenly became imperative to get electronic versions of those two documents. But bloody hell,...
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yet another rant
hmmmm Well, I fully approve of treating foreigners the same as Chinese, but this also strikes me as being a little creepy. Well, it's about law enforcement, and, judging by what's in the article (yes, I know, don't bother telling me) it's all good. I...
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Dalian
So we’re in Dalian . The train ride here wasn’t quite as bad as I thought it would be. I’ve had some pretty rough experiences of hard seat, and I’m sure there are worse stories out there than I’ve experience. Anyway, everybody in our row was pretty cool....
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basketball and holidays
Shit. My students got their arses seriously kicked today. Lately the school has been running a basketball competition, and one of my classes had one of the better teams. Today was the final, and they were playing. They started well and put a few points...
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grrrrrrr
I'm sure you all think I'm a total arsehole for forgetting my wife's birthday. Well, you're all wrong. I may be an arsehole, in fact, some people think so, but I didn't forget. I got it wrong, yes, I fucked up, this is true, but you lot don't even know...
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weather, jiaozi, and other random nonsense
So yesterday's snow melted pretty quickly, but then last night the wind picked up and it's still blowing. According to last nights weather forecast on CCTV 1 (not the world's most accurate, I know, but still the best I've come across in China) we're in...
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fake baijiu
If ever I needed proof that Tianjin buggered up my digestive system, the last couple of days should've made things abundantly clear. Bloody hell. One tiny little chilli pepper, the slightest drop of chilli oil, and my gut starts screaming in protest....
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damn
I just heard that the old guy we called 'Daye' he used to mind the main door of our building and collect the mail and stuff is seriously ill. Well, I assume it's serious, because so far as I can work out he's got an embolism on his brain. I say as far...