German & Geordie in Zhong Guo

132 and out

2011-11-21T11:27:00.002+08:00

This is the last post on this blog.It has probably been clear for some time now that we haven't been updating any more.This has actually been for a reason, rather than simple laziness or forgetfulness.The last substantial post we made was after our trip to Burma.And it was there, in a slightly dingy hotel in Mandalay that we learned of our soon to be expanded family.Since then, the general

Huangshan Panorama

2011-03-14T22:50:00.000+08:00

The new light of myanmar

2011-03-02T14:46:00.002+08:00

I brought this newspaper back from Myanmar and thought it might be interesting for people to read and see the strange mix of parochial and international issues chosen to distract from the domestic issues.It's remarkably lightweight for a national newspaper, although is it any worse than the Metro?If you only look at one page, read the last one.The headlines on there give an insight into the

Immediate refections on Myanmar.

2011-02-12T21:48:00.001+08:00

Caroline's flight will be landing in about half an hour, so I feel a bit happier about posting this now.---------------------------------------I write this post on the flight home after a wonderful week. It's not that I am particularly well organised and impatient to get writing; more that my headphones just died and my book is in my bag in the overhead locker.I could always ask my neighbours to

On second thoughts…

2011-02-06T23:30:00.001+08:00

I spent the last half hour of the flight crafting a thoughtful post on my immediate thoughts having returned from Myanmar. Then as we were coming into land I reassessed the idea given that Caroline & Sunnia are still there for another week.So I'm either being paranoid or a responsible husband - you decide.Instead I'll leave you with two observations; Beijing is always impressive to fly over,

Don't leave...

2011-01-25T08:57:00.003+08:00

I've been absent for an age.This is my first appearance in 2011.It's work y'see, just as I feared it might be.It's difficult enough to find time for the gym, never mind my vague musings to be read by 12 family and friends (not that I'm taking any readers for granted).But I'm not giving up.We're off to Burma in four short days and if I don't have something to write about that trip, then I

Next chapter

2010-11-05T10:17:00.005+08:00

Firstly, an admin note: I have updated my settings to receive an email whenever anyone takes the time to comment on the blog, I'll now respond straight away. All comments are appreciated and I can now demonstrate my appreciation by replying quickly.So, to follow up on my post at the end of September concerning unemployment - it's over!I have a great new job.I don't want to get into the details

It's all relative...

2010-10-19T18:04:00.001+08:00

would be the ideal title for a blog post about the recent visit of my parents.That's not what I want to write about though.I want to write about language.It's something that I was thinking about on that recent trip.Most of our friends are here in China for a specific reason.Well obviously everyone is here for some reason or another, but what I mean is almost everyone has a China-related reason.

Tourism in China....

2010-10-06T20:08:00.002+08:00

... is an experience in itself. Whoever has seen the BBC 'Wild China' series will have admired the beautiful empty landscapes, the diverse wildlife and the minorities in far-away villages. Well, considering the fact that the Chinese tourism industry has already ran a huge surplus this year, it's probably not surprising to hear that those places are rare and difficult to reach.The big tourist

Two posts in a day?

2010-09-17T13:39:00.002+08:00

As if the last one wasn't long enough.I just want to post a link here.This is a podcast I subscribe to thanks to Fergus.It's published weekly and always interesting, at least here in Beijing - I can't comment if you're not immersed in the city / country.This specific podcast is from the end of May.Something else I've been able to catch up on since not working...The reason I'm linking it here is

Unemployment or the travails of a trailing husband

2010-09-17T11:26:00.002+08:00

I think most, if not all of you know that I am currently "between jobs".Obviously, we originally came to Beijing for Caroline's job. And since we weren't married at the time, I also needed a job to get a visa. Now of course that's no longer the case.When we left Newcastle I was very happy at the job I gave up, however after three years I was ready for another challenge. So it wasn't easy to give

A birthday and a trip

2010-09-07T13:53:00.002+08:00

The weekend before the one just gone was of course Caroline's birthday and we had a picnic in our compound with lots of friends. There was lots of nice food, lots of pimms and some games. It was generally a great day. This weekend we went to Qingdao (also written as Tsingtao, which some might recognise). Just a couple of days with Ann and Sunnia, but as always it's great to see new places in

Blogger's Block

2010-09-01T17:41:00.001+08:00

Obviously we haven't been very prolific on here recently. I did post last month, but it was only a musical effort and therefore perhaps doesn't really count. In Caroline's defence, she obviously has a lot of work going on and therefore only has time to write about specific things like her trip to Laos for example. Since I am currently between jobs I don't have that excuse. The specific problem

Not feeling very literary at the moment, so you'll just have to listen instead

2010-08-17T13:28:00.002+08:00

Dubai, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Newcastle, London and Henley, but not Rothbury...

2010-07-08T15:13:00.003+08:00

Like a terrorist leader trying to prove my kidneys haven't failed I'd like to make a couple of topical comments. 1. Why don't they dig a ditch around Rothbury and fill it with water, they could call it the Moatmoat? Removed for reasons of poor taste. 2. Cephalopods cannot predict the future. If they could they would deliberately fling themselves out of their tanks before arriving in Oberhausen.

Just a link to Flickr

2010-06-29T18:06:00.000+08:00

Just uploaded a few shots of Neil and Jo's visit. They can be found here.

Travelling in & outside of China

2010-06-26T18:39:00.002+08:00

One of our favourite hobbies is leaving our little Beijing to go out into the vast lands called Asia, to see what the crack is. Last year we managed to do quite a few weekend trips, which was great, this year, we have been struggling, but luckily our European visitors inspired us, so we've recently seen Chengdu, Shanghai and Hangzhou. Very different from each other, but each one interesting and a

What has happened since my last post

2010-06-24T01:49:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the uninspiring title but that's pretty much the purpose of the blog innit?I'm sitting on the sofa using my phone to write this update. I'm listening to Chrissy Waddle on Five Live using my headphones, Caroline is having a couple of hours sleep before getting up to watch Germany. I can't sleep like that otherwise I'd be semi-conscious for the Germany game. Just a quick mention of the

Some uploads

2010-06-18T01:45:00.000+08:00

Subtle changes will be noticed by anyone who has visited before. The photograph above for example is of the same building (the Bell Tower in Xi'an) and was still taken by one of us, but is the 2010 redux by Caroline, rather than the 2006 original by me. A fresh new take on an old classic I'm sure you'll agree. Give me some feedback, if this new design causes irritation I can easily switch it back

Still here

2010-06-16T12:47:00.001+08:00

It's safe to say we've been complacent with updates on here recently, however it is complacency with a reason. For about the last month, since my rather difficult attempt to sit the EU concours we have had guests. First Caroline's parents and then Jo and Neil Clough have been to see us. It's brilliant when people come to visit and both Caroline and I are lucky that we can take time off, or at

Insignificant places that play a disproportionate role

2010-05-28T11:32:00.001+08:00

I am now off to suzhoujie for the fifth and final time. I am sitting (and passing) my test at 12:00 and then I am never going back to that street or indeed likely that entire neighbourhood for as long as I live. It has happened before that these strange locations end up being places I inexplicably have to return to again and again. I don't even have to get a job out of this for it to have been

Happy ending

2010-05-18T17:41:00.000+08:00

I received an email today to let me know that they would be giving me the opportunity to reschedule my test. My luck has clearly returned. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

This post speaks for itself.

2010-05-17T21:55:00.000+08:00

The luck had to run out sometime.

2010-05-10T13:58:00.008+08:00

So, just over two years ago, Caroline and I set off for a journey to Brussels that brought us here to China. We both sat the CAST 27 exam for fixed term contracts with the EU. As you've probably heard me complaining by now we did different exams. For some reason, at the time it seemed sensible for me to take the exam for jobs based in Brussels (politics-focused) and Caroline to take the exam for

Australia

2010-04-18T11:35:00.007+08:00

It's a week since we got back from our trip to Australia for Nick and Shona's wedding.We've both been working really hard to catch up from a break from work that neither of us could really afford. However, as I have recently decided, you never regret doing things like this, you only ever regret not doing them. Which explains why, at the beginning of May, we're actually going back to the UK for a

A word about the weather....

2010-03-20T18:56:00.003+08:00

It's a very English topic, but 5 years in the UK did indeed take their toll and weather in Beijing is just worth talking about.Being being on the same latitude as Rome should suggest a certain kind of climate, but how wrong we were! We just experienced the second freezing winter with temperatures of approx. -10 degrees (apparently this was the coldest winter in 60 years, but Beijingers say that

When in Rome...

2010-03-17T16:24:00.013+08:00

Intellectual property rights are not well respected here in China.With this in mind I wanted to copy the following for your amusement, I do not however intend to pass it off as my own work.Like most amusing emails it came on a rather circuitous route, so I can't even give credit to whoever wrote it - through correct use of the term 'bumper' we reckon we have narrowed it down to a Brit, although

Fruit in season - but when are the seasons?

2010-03-13T11:09:00.004+08:00

Sorry about the long absence, I was thinking about a cracking subject to re-install my presence on the blog, but you can guess from the title that it only goes so far....Fruit. All of us eat it, all of us love it and all of us are keen to get a bargain price. In the early days, only the fruit in season was available, then globalisation took off and now you can get pineapples, oranges and dragon

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

2010-03-12T11:40:00.001+08:00

It's surprising I can get that post title the right way around given my father's malign influence. Ask him if you don't know what I'm talking about.Anyway, it's been a while since I've said anything and I haven't got much to say today.In the hope that this will keep you distracted, listen to this music, but only in preparation for a night out and not if you're over 40, you just won't like it.So I

Paradise island / ilê de paradis

2010-02-11T10:11:00.000+08:00

I'm starting to write this post on the plane between Mauritius and Dubai. If I finish it here, I'll post it on the blog using the free wifi in Dubai airport. Then when we get back to Beijing I'll edit it and insert some photographs. Otherwise I'll just do the whole thing when we're back in China. Before I start recounting our time on Mauritius, a question. Do most flights have mobile access now?

Comparative analysis

2010-01-30T22:20:00.000+08:00

I'm lying on the beach next to the Indian ocean. There are drums in the background and people fishing in the water which is about 25• they break every now and then to drain some local rum. I can see some mountains in the distance. But before I start getting any more enthusiastic about Mauritius I'd planned to write a few words about Dubai and what it is like in 2010 compared to 2001. When we went

Ten years later

2010-01-30T05:38:00.000+08:00

In early 2001 while living in Brussels I went on a ten day holiday to Dubai with three friends. Chris's parents lived there, which made it a surprisingly affordable option for what was effectively a student budget for me at the time. When we came back I wrote a piece for a newly established website, hostelworld. http://www.hostelworld.com/community/travelstory.php/StoryNO.11That website is now

Constant contact

2010-01-29T17:20:00.000+08:00

I'm writing this on a plane. I can't actually post it from up here, yet. But I was able to send and receive a text message to and from my parents, who are on a canary island off the north west coast of Africa using their uk phone. It cost $1. At that price it's not inhibitive. I know that some domestic USA carriers have wifi and I believe lufthansa do too. So as I say, it's a case of 'yet' until

Intermittent service

2010-01-29T05:40:00.001+08:00

Whereas normally we update this with such regularity!We're just about to board the flight from shanghai to Dubai. It's 05:30, but since we're cracking on a bit we did actually have a hotel room last night rather than a wheelchair in the airport. Very excited about the impending holiday and will try and post a few words every couple of days, or at least when something notable happens. Wifi

Someone else's work

2010-01-21T12:11:00.005+08:00

This link to the Guardian is aimed at families travelling by train across China.But I think it captures the feeling pretty well.I'm hoping this proves to be a teaser for any of you planning to come and visit us. //

Vlog

2010-01-17T15:51:00.001+08:00

A brief hiatus due to Christmas, travel, work, vpn issues, blah de blah.But here we are back again and now that I have the technology and since I received positive feedback from Greg at least, you may see more of these video blogs, or vlogs to us tech-savvy characters in the future.Count the clauses in that sentence, win a prize...The link, if embeddication doesn't work.

Why it's always good to carry a camera

2009-12-09T19:06:00.003+08:00

Yes, that is a man, hanging upside down in a tree with his feet wedged between branches, repeatedly running his fingers through his hair.I have nothing more to add.

Reindeers in Sanlitun

2009-12-06T22:17:00.002+08:00

An example of Christmas decoration from the nearest shopping village. It's getting colder now, very christmassy and not long until we fly back!

Double Header

2009-12-05T16:18:00.003+08:00

Here are a couple of photographs that really need to be placed together. Found in the local Kempinski hotel, where the observant of you will remember we lived for our first month here in China. Anyway, I was on my way to the deli this morning to pick up some croissants when I saw this teutonic take on the terracotta warriors.These are traditional German nutcrackers, the best of which are from

Hoist, petard, etc.

2009-12-03T19:13:00.002+08:00

Himmo's festive exuberance has proven to be too much already.Only the third of December and already we've missed a day / photograph.Here's a weak effort to keep you going 'til tomorrow.It's two people picking over a turkey carcass, that's festive right?

Christmas Decoration European style

2009-12-01T22:04:00.002+08:00

Today's picture shows our efforts to recreate a bit of Christmas in our flat. The pine branches are not very nice here, I don't think the trees get enough water, which would make sense, considering how dry Beijing is or most of the year. Luckily, Chinese people are generally good business people and therefore provide for our cravings for green pine.

Feast or famine

2009-12-01T08:04:00.002+08:00

Typical, you don't hear from us for weeks, then suddenly there are four posts in a week. Well, that's just the way it goes, I make no apologies for our irregularity, we're just too busy / lazy (delete as appropriate).I've been promising for a while that I would post some info about our new apartment. We've still only been living here for two months, so it does still qualify as new. As you've seen

Christmas Decoration in Beijing

2009-11-30T21:27:00.003+08:00

This is the first picture as promised: one of our favourite restaurants in Beijing, serving Shanghai Dumplings (or Xiaolongbao). The decoration includes a see-saw with a penguin and sea lion doing the business.

Our first Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T22:23:00.003+08:00

This fits with the whole Christmas build-up, but deserves its own post. Why? Because last Thursday we had our very first Thanksgiving. Our American friends took over the flat and prepared delicious dishes that would then within minutes vanish into people's bellies. I can see the appeal of the holiday: lovely food, everyone is together and afterwards everyone falls into a slight food coma from

1st Advent and Preparing for Christmas

2009-11-29T21:28:00.003+08:00

Advent is the ultimate German celebration: the family comes together on the last 4 Sunday afternoons before Christmas to eat cookies, play board games and generally prepare for Christmas. At least in our family.So, lacking the German family, we invited some good friends of ours, and did exactly that: making and eating cookies, drinking Gluehwein and playing Trivial Pursuit. The decoration is out

Shopping in Beijing

2009-11-14T11:08:00.002+08:00

This will be a post for the ladies I guess, I'm not sure whether many men have the stamina to go through with the whole shopping experience in China. Firstly, there is a market for everything: clothes (of course) in all shapes and colours, shoes, bags, glasses, plants, lights, birds, furniture ... you name it! They come by descriptive names like Dirt Market, Silk Market, Zoo Market, Glasses

1st snow of the year

2009-11-01T11:52:00.002+08:00

When we woke up his morning, the day after Halloween, the world outside was white and it is still snowing (and has been for at least 4 hours now). So, we got up early and went outside into a little park, just outside our compound and built a little snowman. Chinese people were using the opportunity to have photos taken next to snowy trees and bushes. Last winter it didn't snow until January, and

60th Birthday Party

2009-10-26T21:44:00.006+08:00

This is the first of a couple of catch up posts.It is just over a year since we moved to China and I can say at least for myself that I'm still loving it here. I'm pretty sure Caroline is too.We've moved to a beautiful new apartment and that will be the subject of the next catch up post. Fantastic food and drink are still accessible and cheap.We've got some great friends.Work for both of us is

New Kids on the Blog

2009-10-23T09:59:00.006+08:00

Well, not new kids actually, just the same old ones.But it seemed like a mildly amusing pun with which to announce our reappearance here on German & Geordie in Zhong Guo.Since we got back to Beijing from Berlin to say things have been busy would be an understatement.Caroline's job remains highly time-consuming, although from the outside it seems slightly less crazy than it was in the spring /

The Big One

2009-08-07T14:38:00.003+08:00

By any estimation, a wedding is one of the most important days of your life.It's impact stretches out for years into the future.It's not the easiest thing to summarise into a moving, yet amusing blog post.Consequently I'm not going to, at least for the time being.We have however uploaded the photographs to Flickr.So if you'd like an invite to the private group, then send me an email/facebook

Is this the Eye or the calm before?

2009-07-30T15:48:00.004+08:00

Well it's farily safe to say I won't get a chance to make any comment closer to the event than this.Brief apologies to anyone stumbling across this blog, it won't make sense.I am writing this as an open letter to friends who can't be here and an aide-memoire for me.Yesterday flew past in a flurry of airport visits, Schönefeld, Tegel, Schönefeld was the order of ceremonies. But it all went

The Old Barber of Beijing

2009-07-23T14:37:00.004+08:00

Another advantage of flying with Hainan Air, other than a direct flight, is the fact that the available movies forced me to watch something outside my comfort zone.The Old Barber of Beijing (剃头匠) is a film which was made in 2006. It captures the life of an old craftsmen,a barber, living in a traditional siheyuan on a hutong near the centre of Beijing. Many of the scenes are no more than a twenty

Life in China and life in Germany

2009-07-22T14:22:00.007+08:00

Yang Liu is a designer born in China, educated in the UK and Germany.The pictures below are taken from a book she designed for an exhibition contrasting different aspects of life in China and Germany commissioned by the German Government. These images are taken from a book to accompany the exhibition and while I'm sure she wouldn't thank me for posting these here, they are already available on

if cool(n) ≠ loaded(l) + profligate(p), what is n?

2009-07-20T23:00:00.008+08:00

Maybe some words of interest for our impending guests in Berlin.We arrived yesterday late afternoon on the Hainan Air direct flight from Beijing to Berlin. The flight was fine although uneventful. However I didn't appreciate their attempts to darken the cabin and encourage sleep on a day flight. It's relatively easy to avoid jet-lag when travelling East to West as long as you stay awake, then go

The Last Post

2009-07-16T11:48:00.002+08:00

...before we return to Germany for a month.So this week we are mainly trying to see everyone before we leave.Trying to do all the things which we'll miss while we're away.And for me I have to confess that mainly revolves around eating.But even though I'll miss some things, they'll all be here when we get back.Well probably most given how quickly buildings, businesses and bars come and go

What's going on?

2009-07-08T09:20:00.003+08:00

If you're watching the news in the UK at the moment I'd guess there's not much coverage of Iran any more?Somewhere between randomly selected people climbing onto a plinth and more people crying in an American sports' stadium since Hurricane Katrina, you may some reports about violence and unrest in China. Last year the focus was on Lhasa in Tibet, last Sunday it was Urumqi in Xinjiang, the

Off the wall

2009-07-02T08:20:00.004+08:00

Good evening everyone.Here in Beijing it is 08:30 in the morning.I never get bored of thinking about the time difference.We got up early this morning, Caroline has a busy day at work.So anyway, up at 06:30 I realised that back in Newcastle it is only 23:30 and 00:30 in Germany. It feels strange looking out at a beautiful sunny morning, feeling ready to meet the day ahead when a lot of people back

20 years

2009-06-05T10:02:00.002+08:00

I have to apologise again for our lack of blogging, but as you may have read, several websites are now blocked on the Chinese internet: Apart from YouTube (which has been offline for a couple of months), WindowsLive, Yahoo and Google (inlc. all their twitter, vlogspot etc. websites)have been offline now too, just in time for the 4th June 20 years anniversary of the events in the largest square of

Summer in Beijing....

2009-05-25T18:41:00.002+08:00

... has already started. And we didn't report on it immediately. Apologies for that and our only excuse is that we were away in Europe (as most of you will have seen us) and that blogspot is currently blocked by the Chinese, but we expect it to work again soon, it usually doesn't take very long. So, therefore I'm writing the blog from work.... (after hours of course).Time has flown by since we

Shanghai and home

2009-04-22T09:39:00.002+08:00

This will have to be a quick post.I'm writing this during the break of my weekly three hour English class or job number two.I don't necessarily think teaching English is my strong point, but it is a good opportunity to speak to another bunch of Chinese students and understand their thoughts about China, their expectations of life in the UK and their ambitions for the future, etc.More than that,

Return to Yangshuo

2009-04-07T10:23:00.004+08:00

Back in August 2006, Kerry, Ben, Mark and I came to China for Mike and Shelley's wedding. When we were planning our post-wedding two-week route around China we asked Michael where we could not possibly miss and he said a little place in Southern China called Yangshuo.So after the wedding in Suzhou and trips to the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an and the Great Wall and Beijing, we went for about

A quick post on music

2009-04-02T20:56:00.002+08:00

Music is difficult to avoid here.Whether it's blasting out of a hairdressers, a car window, a mobile phones additional speakers, some speakers spread all over campus, the yoga room of the gym, you get the idea.However, it seems a little different.I remember when we visited Beijing in 2006 after Michael and Shelley's wedding.We'd spent the day at the Great Wall and arrived back in Beijing around

On family, long weekends and a criticism

2009-04-02T17:13:00.002+08:00

Those of you that have read my previous post will have noticed a general theme.I love life here in Beijing and am very positive about most things.Partially it's because I am, by nature an optimist.I try and minimise the problems and focus on the good things.It is also however because life here genunely is great.Interesting and challenging, with a healthy dose of fantastic food and good friends

There's no better time for procrastination than when you should be doing something else...

2009-03-23T22:02:00.002+08:00

Well, well, two blogs in a week I bet you think that's pretty clever, don't you boy?And if anyone get's that obscure reference, I'll buy them a chupachup.A few days ago Caroline's bike got a flat tire.Another beautiful feature of life in Beijing is that handymen hang out on street corners. They have little mobile workshops that can cut keys, repair shoes and other leather goods and fortunately

Bridal Life in China

2009-03-21T10:59:00.003+08:00

This of course it very important for every bride, but in China, there is at least one extra layer to the Bridezilla business, mainly: the wedding pictures! Whilst in Europe it's considered bad luck if the husband sees the bridal dress before the wedding, in China all the wedding pictures are taken around 6 months in advance of the wedding (and are then put on the wedding invitations). I have

Excuses, excuses

2009-03-18T12:35:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone.You may have noticed something recently.Namely that we are rarely here.It's been 17 days since our last post.Unforgiveable.The major reason is that Caroline is currently doing 2 full time jobs and I think I am fluctuating somewhere around 1.5Between this and our continuing attempts to eat, drink, walk and visit our way around China; regular blogging has taken a bit of a blow.So

Snow, snow, snow

2009-03-01T20:20:00.003+08:00

It was probably all over the news across the world, because Beijing is in its dryest season of the year, yet: last week it snowed for more than 12 hours straight! And suddenly everything was white and even more beautiful. The way to work took about twice as long with trying to avoid cars bumbing into me and whoever decided to get a taxi that day got stuck in traffic for hours.Now, the internet

Harbin(ger) of things to come

2009-02-18T10:49:00.010+08:00

There's a tautology for you if ever you were in demand of needing one.Today is my first day back at work for some considerable time.I did a couple of days at the turn of the year, but otherwise it's around 2 months since I did anything substantial.In that time we've been to Oman and I went back to the UK and to Lanzarote.I've done some Chinese study and some preparation for the coming term.We've

Green T House

2009-02-12T09:42:00.006+08:00

We ate haute / fusion cuisine last night.But with a good excuse. After trips home and around China / South-East Asia during Christmas and Spring Festival, our friends are starting to return to Beijing. (Term starts on Monday).Our good friends here have been a big part of why Beijing has been able to feel like home so quickly. Two of those friends, Carol and Erik are from 'the mitten' To the

Lanzarote and the cactus garden

2009-02-10T14:16:00.005+08:00

I've uploaded some photographs of my recent trip to Lanzarote with the folks.They're here on flickr as usual.You should take a look.They may challenge some preconceptions you have about the place.It's actually quite a beautiful and distinctive island.Perfect for a week of winter sun in January.Especially when Britain is disappearing under snow storms and a collective credit crunch craziness. Oh

Epic Journey Home

2009-02-06T11:48:00.003+08:00

Epic by Faith No More Snow (Hey Oh) by Red Hot Chili Peppers Stuck In The Middle by Stealers Wheel 500 Miles by The Proclaimers Long Road To Ruin by Foo Fighters Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over by The Charlatans Loading Playlist...