Knobcottage in China

In my office at work there is a table; a big heavy quilted cloth covered table, with a heated plate in the center.  It is only recently that I have discovered that it is a heated table. In my last post I talked about the table in the undertaker's.  Underneath was a bucket of lit charcoal.  Over the table was a thick cloth.  Everyone sits around the table with their legs under the table.  The newer versions plug in.  My best guess is that the whole idea originated from having a sort of  oven around which people sat.  This then developed into a table around an oven and from there went high-tech!  The surface of the table heats up and there is a small inward facing heater in each of the legs.  There is also a special warming plate in the center of the table to keep your tea warm.A very strange contraption , and personally I'd prefer an upper-body warmer; my legs rarely get cold.  However, this is China!  From the external point of view, they look like this.  A small stocky quilt

Having got home after the meeting and meal, I decided to do a bit of blogging.  It is becoming increasingly random as to whether, even with a VPN, I can upload videos and pictures to Blogger.  As such the most simple tasks are taking forever.  Anyhow, after an hour I started to fall asleep!  So I went for my afternoon nap.  This is a very Chinese thing, but I reckon it's becoming an old age thing for me too, however it's not just old age, even my colleague Sherika who is only twenty-six years old, is constantly complaining about how tired she is! After my nap I got up and did a bit more blogging but started to get increasingly fed up of failed upload and slow uploads.  Decision time:  stay in ans watch telly or go out?  Well,I could stay in bed late tomorrow, so it ws time to go out and see what was there.  It was raining very lightly as I left the house and past the undertakers shop.  They spotted me and invited me in.  I told them I was off to teh park and they asked if I w

Today was an interesting day, and in true Chinese style, I never knew what was going on until I got 'there'.  'There' ,was the Shangyue Community Building (or at least that's what I think it was!).  After my strange meeting with Wan Yi the other day, see previous blog post, where I sat with the vice-president sign of the new Outdoor Mountaineering Association, I am not sure exactly what my role is in this club! However, yesterday, I got an invitation to a meal and a meeting at 10.30 at the above building.  Again I asked a friend where it was, and as I was in the general area, I checked it out so I could be sure where to find it the next day. The night before I went to bed early and this morning,  the day of the event, I got up late, taking time to enjoy my new mattress!  When I woke up there was a message from Betty.  Betty is a woman who lives in my apartment block, her husband, who I don't think I have ever met, is a teacher at my school.  The message asked

 On 23rd of December I got a wedding invitation from restaurant boss lady: Baozhen Li.  I translated it in WeChat and asked a friend where the place was.  it was don near the big indoor market.  I told her that I would be going, little realising that it was her son's wedding! Anyhow, the Sunday before the wedding I contacted her to confirm that I would be attending and she invited me to come and book the place with her.  I was really busy and had to refuse; I dont think my refusal went down very well!  However, on the day of the wedding, about five minutes after I had eaten lunch, I got a WeChat invitation to her restaurant to eat lunch and then afterwards have a meal at the wedding.  Unfortunately, after lunch I was teaching and could not attend her restaurant, but confirmed that I would be there at the wedding after work. After work I headed off to the big indoor food market and with a little help from a local resident and a map I found the hotel.  Like many hotels

Sometimes, I have my evening meal in school.  Today was one of those days.  Usually I go to the students canteen because the range of food is often better.  The students love it!  Everyone says "Hello!".  Today was one of those days, so I bought some food and sat down.  After endless greetings, I finally sat down to eat. Shortly afterwards two girls came to sit near to me.  As we waited for their instant noodles to cook, I got chatting. I then remembered that I had a badge with some Chinese writing on.  It was stylised writing and I could not translate it.  I asked one of the girls if she could translate it for me and she offered to try.  As I handed her the badge she brought it closer to her face as the writing us very small.  Suddenly she dropped it in her instant noodles.  She looked so embarrassed.  I laughed and told her not to worry but she fished around in her noodles until she found it.  I cleaned it up and she wrote out what she saw.  团徽.  She said it was a missio

On my way to restaurant boss lady's songs wedding I came across this: The new Beef restaurant.  I guess this is an advertisement...But it could be stock waiting to be delivered!

Today as I was leaving class, I pulled open the door, the floor was uneven, it caught the door.  I knocked into the door and cut the back of my hand on the lock.  It wasn't bad.  It bled a little so I cleaned it and headed off to the wedding.  On the way to the wedding I was thirsty, so I stopped at a little shop.  I've only been there maybe five times.  There's a lovely lady behind the counter.  We play counting games..she's so proud of her few English words.  Today as I bought a drink, she noticed the cut on my hand.  She reached for a bottle of iodine like fluid and a few cotton Qtips she had behind the counter and cleaned up the cut on my hand.  Lovely.  I snook a photo! (in the photo, the cut looks a lot worse than it actually is/was)

After the trip to Yanxi,I stayed in bed late and caught up with work in my apartment.  I ordered in some food and the driver brought it to my door.  Just before he arrived I got a phone call.  I think it was the courier.  He was slightly late and it seems couldn't find out exactly where I was.  There was a knock at my door and there he was with three little girls who knew where the foreigner lived!  They smiled at me.  I recognised one of them.  She was a little girl who had bought me some Chinese sweet dish in the park when I first came her.  She is a relation of the head of English who lives on the floor above.  The courier went, I said goodbye and closed the door.   I heard a little discussion outside and then a knock on the.  The three little girls wanted a chat.  I told them that I would love to chat but I was having my food.  I finished eating and there was another knock on my door.  They were back.  A safeguarding nightmare in England but not so over here in Jaingkou.  All

Chinese children in this province always like to meet foreigners, because they don't often see them,and it is a privilege to shake hands with them and encourage them. But my little trip to Yanxi, held its own little surprise! It brings tears to my eyes when I think about it!  I mentioned in my last post that whilst the children were crowding around me that I saw one child who was holding a handful of leaves.  I mentioned that the leaves looked pretty.  It was a soft moment and a very special one too. At the end of our visit, the children crowded around us, and I was handed a lot of sweets by many children, a rose and two little letters by two girls.  It was so busy, I couldn't remember who, but I put the little letters in my pocket in order to read the m when I got home.  I am so glad I left them until then.  When I got home, I unpacked and sorted things out.  I then got showered and changed, sat down on the sofa and took out the letters. I'll call them the blue letter a