Nanjing Update

The view from my window
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It has been so incredibly hot here for the last few days, that the classroom and our air conditioned bedrooms are proving to be the only respite from almost uncomfortable temperatures. Thats the main reason im sat inside in my boxers writing this new entry, but of course i want to keep you all updated as well!

I think one of our teachers, a relatively young girl called jing jing, found us a little too much this morning. Its been so hot here that its hard to expend energy outside without sweating like a geordie in a spelling test, so im afraid we all went a bit nuts in class this morning under the air conditioning. I definately feel that my chinese has improved considerably in the last month, but i got in too deep trying to explain to my teacher what noise a dying giraffe makes!

A dish full of stone-cold yellow chickens feet!

My teacher's adorable daughter
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I've had a very busy few weeks. Its hard to believe that i've been here 5weeks now. Time seems to be flying by now that we are in a routine. Classes are still fairly difficult, although they now seem difficult just because they start at 8 not because they are conducted entirely in Chinese. Its amazing how quickly i've got used to that actually.... the early mornings will continue to be a problem for the forseeable future though im sure! Last weekend we had a party here at our residence hosted by some chinese students from the other campus. It was a little bit surreal really, and i still dont understand why chinese people like karaoke so much when they are still sober, but i had fun and made a few chinese friends. The following morning we all went to a kind of fresher's fair where one of my class mates was performing and i spent the day with the chinese friends i made the night before. It was good fun, but i was accosted at one point by 3 chinese girls who wanted a picture with me.... one at a time!? Bizarre, and im not sure whether or not it was particularly welcome.

I've been playing lots of table tennis. I still haven't braved playing with the locals yet but im certainly planning to try that. They are insanely good so if i ever beat a Chinese person, you will be sure to hear about it.... even if its a 6 year old girl with no arms! Seriously though, its quite something to watch. Andrew had better get practising i think otherwise next summer he is going to have to endure some very tedious afternoons being taken apart time after time... and i know how he hates losing!

On tuesday night we went out for one of my classmates birthdays. About 15 english, 4 aussies, 3 or 4 americans, a Danish girl, a Pole, 3 Japanese, and 2 Koreans turned up to a Teppanyaki restaurant on a bustling pedestrian street called Hunan Lu and attracted a lot of attention. For those who don't know Teppanyaki involves sitting at tables which have a built in cooking surface at which a chef cooks in front of you and serves it up as he goes. It was Y150 each for all we could eat and drink, which is an awful lot of money here (about £10 at home) and it was the best meal i've had in a very long time. I will definately be going back there in the near future, not least because we sat for about 3 hours drinking as much warm sake as we could get down us without dying! Jimmy and i then tried to ride the giant golden elephant outside... but it had a guard (??) who i promptly told didnt know how to have fun!

The food isn't all good though. I don't want to go into it too much because it makes me feel sick, but we went out to a posh chinese restaurant one weekend... and quickly learnt that if you want to spend lots of money on a meal its best to go for something imported. Cheap chinese food is a lot safer and less, well, less ridiculous!! After telling us that the english menu was being used, the fuwuyuan was positively overwhelmed when i asked her for the chinese one instead. My smugness quickly gave way to sheer confusion and then fear as i realised that i wasn't going to know the vocab for anything they were likely to serve me in this restaurant - never a good sign. My fears were confirmed when the first thing they brought to us was a dish full of stone-cold yellow chickens feet! I tried to be brave and put it in my mouth, but once i realised that the toe nail was still attached i have to admit I couldn't go on!! That was followed by a bowl of what i think was goose skin and fat, and then a dish of chinese chillis, which are the hottest things i have ever tasted. As soon as i had swallowed it it was like every liquid particle in my body was trying to escape. My face went red, my eyes and nose were streaming, i started to sweat profusely and then on top of that i couldn't taste anything else i put in my mouth.... probably the best time to eat the chicken's foot!!!!

Tuesday was 中秋节 (mid autumn festival) here and so next week the whole country has what's called National week. It basically means everybody is off work and so everybody goes nuts for travel. Buying tickets has been crazy, but my Australian friend Grace and I are going to Qingdao. There were no seats left on the trains for 3days, so we foolishly decided to buy standing tickets for a 15 hour overnight journey. Its likely to be hell but we are excited about Qingdao so we'll put up with it. I'll let you know how that goes once im back! The bad news about having a week off is that we have been given classes this weekend to make up for it.... so i have 8am starts on Sat and Sunday as well now... hoorah!

Hope you are all well.

Love Richard xxx