Gan kau

Gan Kau is the big national exam for school leavers.  It is a time if hard study and what appears to be 'rote learning'.  

Today I slept on the sofa as a change to my bed.  The bed is like plywood with cotton on it!..I slept well and woke up early and had a chat with my Chinese friend in Liverpool.  I then decided to go to school and meet with the kids.  Breakfast was just finishing as I arrived.  I went to the students' eating street and got some rice and a sort of flat sausagemeat bread.  Delicious!  No oil on the rice not too spicy!  And the sausagemeat bread thing was just excellent!
I then wandered around the school looking at various kids perched in various positions happily reciting from their textbooks.  



I said hello to a few, and spoke with a few.  I spoke longest with a girl called Seven and her friend Peter.  I don't know why she was called Seven, but he said he was called Peter because his hero was spiderman.  I showed then a picture of Seven of Nine from Star Trek and we talked Star Trek...They did not seem to know it.  I had a few more chats and read some English sentences for those who asked. Then the 'spooky ' music started to play and it was time for their classes. (I'll talk more about that another day). 
I went off into town, determined to get a can of beer for the old guy I'd met on the way in.  He'd stopped me and smiled, had a conversation with me and offered me a cigarette!  I think he's a 'security guard' on the building site I pass on the way to work.  That's him below:



I got him a beer...he didn't want to take it but I left it with him and wandered home.  I was nearly home when a kid in the restaurant waved at me and said "Hello!".  I beckoned him over and gave him a few biscuits for him and his two siblings.  Everyone seemed happy.  Me too!

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