I slipped and fell on adventure

I forgot why I was here. Even after Mongolia I was getting involved in office politics, dealing with HR issues… not enjoying myself. The only respite was teaching and there simply weren’t enough classes to make up for the mundanity of what I’d left Australia to escape. So, while grumpy, I looked at my “Before I Leave China” spreadsheet, because ofcourse I have a “Before I Leave China” spreadsheet and chose the one place that I could go to that was a) not closed for winter and b) less than a 10 hour train ride away – Datong. There was a hanging monastery and some grottoes… looked ok. Datong City in a nutshell? It was founded in 200 BC during the Han dynasty, its located close to Inner Mongolia and was originally a walled city (you can still see the walls, although… as with much of China, it was rebuilt in the 1980’s), and the Western Capital. In 1277 Marco Polo visited, he was impressed by the look of the city, its enterprises, business… So a long and impressive history. You’d...

What is Halloween without a frightening trip to a Chinese hospital… Chinese students spend A LOT of time at school, the MORE time studying.  They’re up from about 6am and start independent study from 7.30am… then classes, which can continue til maybe 9pm – 10pm! One of my students tells me that even after that, he spends another hour in the dormitory toilet where there’s still some light, to complete his homework. Its pretty intense. So… I suggested we have some more relaxing events for our GAC students to enjoy themselves, while making use of their English in a chilled out environment. I actually baked… which is not a thing I’ve EVER done, nor ever considered attempting to do… but cupcakes and scones somehow made their way from my apartment and into my students bellies, with smiles of delight. I may, potentially, have gone a wee bit overboard with candy, hats, masks, apple bobbing… fortunately I was joined by two new colleagues, who brought horror stories, mu...