Knobcottage in China

A few weeks ago I met this woman on the street near my home.  She is only as tall as my shoulder but has a personality the size of a small city.  She has kind of adopted me and has asked me to call her jiejie (big sister) I believe her real name is Mei, but as that also means little sister I cannot know for sure.  I now call her Jie, she seems happy with that!  She was an absolute star when I was in hospital and check on me regularly, ensuring that I knew what was happening and hat I had food.  She also, with the aid of a teacher from my school, helped me back to my apartment and texted me regularly to check that I was ok!  I don't know much about her, other that she was once a doctor specialising in bowels, and that everyone seems to know her.  She is a real 'salt of the earth' person, and often hangs out with the poor fruit sellers on the street near her house, I love these people too!  The only downside is that she is a dialect speaker and I s...

 Washing clothes in the river This is a combination of a few things from a few days.  Jiangkou is a poor city and it was fairly isolated until the new motorway was built some years ago. It connects Jiangkou with Tongren. Tongren has access to the high speed train.  Apparently the reason the high speed train is in Tongren is because the surrounding area if so mountainous that it was impossible to build elsewhere.  In fact the main Tongren Station is Tongren south, which is situated a fair distance from the heart of Tongren for that reason!  Nevertheless, I am quite amazed at there even being a high speed train available in Tongren.  Kudos to the Chinese! Anyhow, in amongst the poverty of Jiangkou you can see people washing their clothes in the river as they probably have for centuries.  However with the UNESCO world heritage site just up river, they will no doubt soon be stopped from doing so.  I think the river won't miss their detergents! ...

I had had a late morning but at about 11 o'clock, I was getting hungry.  I was just about to order a take away, how my life has changed since I learned how to do that, when I got a text from Freya asking how I was.  I told her that I was fine.  She asked me what I was doing, and I said that I was doing nothing.  Apparently she was about to do her laundry.  It turned out she was washing her stuff by hand.  As a throwaway comment I offered that she could come over here and use my machine and we could share lunch.  Much to.my surprise, she said "Yes!".  China still surprises me.  Such a mixture of traditional and modern.  Usually single women won't come to my apartment alone due to the fact that 'rumours' would spread.  So I was surprised that Freya agreed...Although she is an out-of-towner!  Anyhow, 45 minutes later, outside my door was Great with a bucket of washing that was about the same size as her! We set up the ...

On Friday I went to he hospital to have my dressings changed.  I brought some chocolate for the doctors and nurses and noticed that the flowers that Dan had given me, and I had then given them, had been neatly arranged.  Excellent! The flowers and a nurse holding one of the chocolates I gave to the staff.  Ferrero Rocher look alikes I waited around for a while and chatted Nurses and the doctor eventually arrived.  We went to heroom off the main reception and he prepared to change the dressings. The doctor preparing the dressing changes. Prepared and ready for the new dressings.  The yellow colouring is from the antiseptic that they use here. Dressed and ready to go home. After the dressing was completed, I said goodbye and went home.  I dint have to retuirn again so I took a selfie with he doctor before I left. The doctor and me! The nusrign staff form my shift several years ago.  Their uniform is Pink.

After he excitement of Christmas day, I was looking forward to a quiet Boxing day, and that is what I got.  Firstly I went out and posted a book to Angela.  I had promised it to her several days ago and now I reckoned I would send it.  The post office staff were as bemused as ever.  I don't think they usually deal with parcels!  I also met the kind boss from there who had helped me so much earlier on when I tried to post stuff back to England.  For the rest of the day, I did very little, apart from tryong to catch up on my blog.  I got a call from Sherrie at a bout 4pm saying she was going to pick up my parcels and come over.  Then started he parcel saga.  To cut a long story short, there were three or four parcels for me and maybe they were all at the same courier office.  it took about an hour to sort things out, but Sherrie managed.  There was a knock on my door.  It was Sherrie with my parcels.  Three mall ones I had ...

Ever since I have been on WeChat, I have had friends in China.  Most have been good friends and one or two I have met.  One of my best friends and, an the only one who has come to meet me is Julie from Guangdong province.  She has been a real star, and we have shared many things.  When I first came here she visited me, and she was my parcel guide, directing the postmen how and when to deliver my parcels.  This Christmas, without fail she was a star again.  I have more or less ignored Christmas this year s it is really not celebrated here.  But Julie sent me a present, or rather some presents!  Firstly I got a lovely diary. A really useful piece of kit as I am forever spilling tea on the random notes on my table!  Further to that, a nd a good while ago, she sent me some lovely badges with crossed Union Jack and Chinese flag.  I have given these on special occasions.  I recently asked her where she managed to buy them as I cannot ...

 Well it was Christmas!  I am used to having Christmases alone as for the past few years I have been working and my family have take the opportunity to go to Germany without me!  So, I was expecting a sleepy day in front of the telly watching some rubbish or other.  How wrong I was! I suppose it was ten o'clock and I was sitting unshaved unwashed on the sofa wondering what not to do, when I got a text from Taylor.  Taylor was the young woman who took me and her friend swimming in the Taoping river last summer.  She is heavily pregnant now.  She had heard that I had had my appendix out and that it was Christmas and that I'd be alone.  She had a plan!  She would be over in the afternoon, what did I want to eat.  Taylor lives in Tongren, and despite it only being an hour away by bus/car, it is a whole new world!  They have things there!  What did I want to eat?  Yikes!  Cheese.  I have not eaten Cheese of any sort...

Last night, no one slept in my room with me!  Bliss!  I was woken by, yes you guessed it, time for another drip.   I asked to go to the loo first.  Wise decision!  I was placed on the drip and left alone. Soon afterwards Charles arrived with some porridge.  He left fairly quickly as he had to teach lessons.  Apparently he had heard that I may be discharged that day.  Excellent! Soon afterwards Jiejie arrived and took control of things!  She determined that I neded a blood pressure check, one last drip (thank god) and a change of dressings.  Then I could go.  She told me that she would return shortly and help me back to my flat. Blood pressure was taken.  Drip was given.  Dressing were changed, and both Jiejie and Charles were there.  Jiejie and Charles I had pre-packed most of my stuff the night before and was ready to go.  Charles to told me to stay by my bed and both he and Jiejie went downstairs ...

I woke up to another day...my goals were normalising....looks like I was going to live!  But there was a always a drip.  When ever I needed the  loo, someone needed to be there holding it high.  I never find it easy to pee with someone standing besides me!  This was even more difficult because I had t make sure that I did not knock the drip needle out of my hand.  Thank goodness numbers twos were not yet happening!  I don't think I could bear squatting with a friend alongside holding my drip! First to arrive was this woman.  I don't even know her name!  I just call her Jiejie which means big sister.  She is a real matriarch in the local community and has taken a sisterly liking to the strange foreigner.  She is quite an unuual lady, and very colourful for Jiangkou! Jiejie Jiejie was concerned that I had not been eating.  She is very down to earth, and quite knowledgeable too...perhaps she was once a nurse.  She a...

I woke up on Sunday morning...goal one achieved!  The deputy principal had slept on the bed beside me and was still there in the morning!  Everyone curious about the foreigner The first to relieve that watch was Tom and his niece.  They took over from the Deputy Principal who disappeared only to return shortly afterwards!  Then the leaders arrived.  It was like a parade.  The Principal and the Deputy Principal, The department leaders and the movers and shakers.  Impressive!  The first and last time I had seen the Principal was at a meal with a friend.  We were introduced by name and I was told he was a teacher.  I asked did he teach at my school.  He smiled and walked on.  My friends explained to me later!  Well, how was I to know.   One of the Heads of Department or movers and shakers had also made me some rice porridge and some chicken soup.  She was busily running around taking photos!...