Hello, All week we have had about 15 kids here doing what is called summer camp. About 10 of them come from a village about 1hr from here.

They have english lessons in the morning then go out & about in the afternoon having fun.

Last Fri night a BBQ was organised to be held on the island in the Li River. Everything needed was carried down to the wharf including at least 3 huge watermelons ( they forgot a knife). At the wharf a couple of raft owners made some good money transporting maybe 30 of us across the river. It all looked like organised chaos to me, but I know eventually it will all come together so I left them to it. I wandered around taking photos & eventually settled down on the grass & talked to whoever came by. They often came with drinks or food. Included in the things taken there was the loud speaker system. Much to my amazement we listened to the Gregorian Choir... I discovered that George loves this music so he played it. It was so lovely sitting under the stars listening to it. Eventually it was time to leave, but there were no boats. They used the loud speaker to call across the river & Max made a phone call. I would have thought that as they took us across they would have made a arrangements to take us back. But maybe this is expecting way too much !!!  However 2 rafts eventually turned up & we were returned. Without the boats it would have been a 30-40min walk back then another 15min to school.

Just as we were waiting to leave a truck pulled up...they gathered up all the empty drink bottles ...can't imagine anything else would be useful !!!

On sunday morning I decided to go to Guilin. I needed some more moisturizer so that got me moving. Quite by chance the weather was a lot cooler. I did a lot of walking without breaking into a sweat. Every time I go there I try to go somewhere new & this time I found a big tourist park. I decided that I was not in the mood for it so put a visit on hold for now.

I returned home about 2.30pm & read the paper. An hour later I decided that the washing machine was probably not being used so took a load up to the 5th floor. I had just got there when I heard Max yelling out for me......my door was open so he knew I wasn't in my room....when he came up we discussed the water supply problem with the washing machine...its so bad that a 45min load will take way over 2 hrs. Its quite a mystery as the tap nearby on the same pipe has great pressure so I bucket water in to the initial load. Anyway Max wanted to tell me there were new students at school & would I go &  interview them. From an interview I can tell which class to put them into. The staff have given up disagreeing with me as they R usually always wrong. They go by the test results....I tell them they R a waste of paper & time.  By the time I arrived at school the 2 students Max had told me about had increased to 4 & there was another guy I did not meet till I went to class.

We have a  young guy here, a friend of George's , who is making a very short documentary of the school. Its my turn to be filmed on tuesday morning.  URGH !!

 

Well filming went ok ...I arranged the class to be active by having a spelling test instead of just reading & listening to me. All went well I guess, but later they wanted me to stand in front of the camera & say something about Omeca....NO NO NO...I just refused. Shelly also refused. Oman came to me to ask me to speak some Chinese words..again I refused. But at least this time I was asked... at the previous school I just found a camera pointing at me & someone pretending to ask me questions etc.





Both Scott & Wes have bought moter bikes. There is a huge market of 2nd hand 1's in Guilin so they both bought theirs there. Many of the local young guy expats here have bought moterbikes & I notice a few of them have added the obligatory dog too. Wes said his bike cost about $850..this included a hard hat.

 

On wed I decided to take a class up to West street to read all the english signs there.  When I ask them if they have seen any they say no..... Scott also decided it was a good idea so he bought his class along too. We left with about 14 students between us & returned with only 4. But I think it was a useful event for those that made an effort.

After lunch Sunny came with me to the bank to once again see about changing money into USA $. This time apart from a bit of misunderstanding I actually got to buy some. In the process I discovered that $500 US is the maximum I can buy. Next job will be to see if the local PO now understands what a registered letter is. When I came here to Y/S they had no idea what I meant. ( they have now caught up on tthe latest knowledge!!)

 

Sunny also went with me to the Dr ( all these places R very close to school) & after checking me again he gave me some different medicine this time. He says there is nothing for me to worry about...I am very healthy. Consultations are done in the shop.....no such thing as going into a private room. There is always someone ( or 2-3) having intravenous drip...they just sit or lay on the bed in the shop.....this is my 3rd visit to this Dr & he now knows how to say my name.

 

Fri again & somehow George felt that he had missed out on something by not coming to West st with me so I suggested we go together. He was thrilled & fri evening at 5pm we set out. We had a great time over the next 4 hrs chatting & checking out some things that took our interest. George is only 22 yrs, but he has an amazing wide range of interests & knowledge. We went to the 2nd hand book store where over cans of Coke we read a bit then went next door to eat a  meal of delicious dumplings & fried rice. After we left we stopped at a restaurant to chat with 1 of my students, Penny from High sch. I was thrilled to hear that she has been accepted into a Uni in Chengdu. Sichuan province. She repeated her senior 3 to get higher marks to get into a Uni. Earlier in the day Morgan, also an ex high school student came to visit me. She has just finished her 1st year at college. She has managed to get a job for a mth here in Yangshuo in a lovely shop selling good quality leather goods. Only foreigners & wealthy Chinese would shop there so she will have a chance to practice her english. Her pay is very low, but she will get some retail experience & as she said the alternative is sitting at home in front of the TV eating.

bye for this week

 

big hugs

 

Old enough to know better, too old to care
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