Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from
Beijing. I have found a candlelit bar in Nanluoguxiang which serves mulled wine. So I am writing this, with my scarf on, nose running, staying out of the continuously cold and biting wind. Trying to stay warm.I'm OK despite feeling that my first cold since I arrived might be coming on. Laura helped me get some preventative medicine today, so I am hopeful about continuing my run of uniterrupted days at work. My skin is dry all over and I am moisturising myself a lot. I still pine at the thought of a sauna and/or a swim which I still haven't had. Oh well, at least we have the dust storms to look forward to. I was encouraged to take Christmas Day off due to my hard work but I thought it would have been a shame to miss out on the chance to work on the day itself. Although I once did a session at the Corner House and was with the kids at the orphanage in Tanzania, this was the first time I had actually 'worked' on the day itself. I was hungover, too, having been out to the Mississippi the previous night. I got through it by singing a reworked version of 'The 12 Days Of Christmas'. This was loved by Group A, who sung along, but left Group C completely baffled. Unfortunately I have video footage, but only of the poorly-sung Group C version. I also accidentally fell into teaching the Christmas Story when trying to explain why non-Chinese people give gifts at Christmas. Of course, the Chinese are aware about Christianity, even if they aren't, by and large, Christians themselves. This is in stark contrast to South Korea, which is steadily becoming a Christian country.
I tried out a role-play on Christmas Eve with Group A, to partial success, in one of the art studios. I've certainly gone the extra mile in terms of lesson preparation and using extra materials. I wanted to try something different and so I set up a meeting about 'light pollution' at the Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre. I got the students to play characters and gave them all character profiles. Took a bit of effort and it was kind of worth it. I have no sleepness nights about the amount I contribute to my job, but 'shit' still happens to others, like my DOS being asked to write lessons plans in hindsight, two months after the actual lessons have taken place.
More than half the students are keen to apply to the London Institute of the Arts now following a visit from that collection of 6 former independent arts institutions. They have promised to accept students on a 4.5 IELTS score with the motivation to enrol them on the full course from September if they can achieve a 6.0 score. It is not impossible, but most of them would have to put in the some hard effort. From April until September they would study English in London. Their English isn't currently good enough, but being in the capital of England may inspire them to achieve their dreams of undertaking an overseas arts degree.
Meanwhile, Laura has quit her job, forced out by her family and having to lie about her reasons for leaving (she, too, is pretending to go to study abroad). She will return to Henan province, south of Beijing, and take up a pre-arranged position at a bank in Zhengzhou, in 2 weeks' time. She is lining up a current work-colleague to take over Saturday 'language-exchange' duties with me, and by Laura's own admission, 'Mandy' is "more beautiful" but not as good at conversing in English. We shall see if that arrangements proves as reliable as Laura has been. Although being a badly-motivated student, I haven't picked up much Mandarin since I have been here. One opportunity which may arise out of the bad news of Laura's departure, is I may get the chance to visit the world famous Shaolin Temple. I have a tentative plan to take Fufu with me and ran it past his mum this morning. It would make for an interesting trip, he would be keen and so would Laura be keen to be a semi-guide in her home province to the Shaoshi mountains. Myself and Fufu could take the 5 hour train on Friday 19 February and return to Beijing on Sunday 21 February. It would give Hong Yan a break and would definitely provide interesting movie material. I just have to make sure all the checks and risks are taken care of before we leave and put Laura in contact with Hong Yan so that good communication can exist. It will, of course, be undetaken during the week long Chinese Spring Festival holidays.Before that, I am planning to see American rockers, the Killers at the Workers' Gymnasium next month, having just bought a ticket. With luck, I should be able to film it, much like I was able to at the Karen Mok gig earlier this month.
I note how the Pope hit the headlines this Christmas in more than the usual ways this year - not only did he bring Christmas Mass forward by 2 hours to stop him getting tired, he seems to have been felled by a mad woman in red. I'm keeping an eye on news in Britain, albeit through the skewed, satirical eye of recently aired editions of Have I Got News For You. And having drawn the first test, I am now following the 2nd test between England and South Africa in Durban.
In case you didn't get my email, Beijing now has 4 million registered vehicles on its roads. Not quite the 9 million bicycles of the annoying Mike Batt penned tune by Katie Melua but still enough to pollute the already smokey air and provide a difficulty for all pedestrians attempting to cross the road.
Anyway, I have done a little bit of partying this week. I was out 'celebrating' Christmas on Thursday at the Mississippi Bar, getting introduced to two Australian sistsers but getting on best with fellow Brit and colleague from the Leys, Hannah Pursey. Last night, I had chaffing food in Huhai with Laura and over young, naive 'boy'friends. Tonight I happily alone in Nanluoguxiang, staving off a cold by drinking Leffe. But I have been invited to an ex-pats 'Boxing Style' afternoon buffet tomorrow, so I may even get to eat Turkey after all.
Anyway, that's it for now. I'm off to watch the Christmas Day episode of Doctor Who and to see just how the Master manages to cause the Doctor's latest death!
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