Saturday, 8 November 2008

KTV Thai food English corner and job offer





As all my weekend was spent in Wuhu I thought i would add a picture of one of the many signs that are placed in public areas this usually causes me to read it at least twice.But normally it makes me smile Chinese apparently doesn't always translate to well and vice versa.
Last Fridays activity after food in the top floor of Wall mart(asda with attitude) we all went to KTV or Karaoke to most UK people.
The main difference is you book a private room with sound system etc and then sing in private. So none of the public humiliation associated with this in the UK.
Also no body was drinking and they do take it very seriously sensibly i opted not to sing which was just as well for those attending.
On Saturday my boss and his wife invited me out for a meal at a Thai Restaurant to try it out.Very nice decor and surrounding's which explained the prices however the food was superb although not convinced about the Thai part not a lot of Thai dishes but what we had was great.
One dish was fish which was very nice and a dish of Wuhu Chicken which was similar to Peking duck with crispy skin plus one noodle dish. All very tasty afterwards we had planned to play Majong but couldn't get a fourth player so we settled on scrabble.
Which only proved to me how rusty my spelling is (no spell check on scrabble board)
Sunday we had planned to meet near to Mirror lake in Wuhu at
Jiu Zi Square which is a patriotic square is filled with statues, the centerpiece of which is an impressive 20-metre-high bronze pillar depicting Chinese phoenixes, surrounded on all sides by fountains. In the morning the park is packed with old people practicing Tai Chi although i haven't seem anyone yet maybe too early for me.
The idea behind Sunday was to try and establish an English Corner in day time as due to work I can no longer attend the university on Wednesday.Also it was in my mind to do some volunteer work possible with kids at school.I mentioned this to one of the people who came on Sunday called Pearl who teaches English and she invited me to come to the school next Saturday.
Our new English corner had 3 students plus 6 pupils from Pearls school so not a bad start plus Reuben a Spanish guy studying Chinese most westerners or foreigners seem to be either studying Chinese or teaching English.
Any way we will have to see how many attend next Sunday.I mentioned the offer from Pearl to my Boss who told me about another school who was desperate for Foreigners to teach English,Are they so desperate that they want a teacher with a Geordie accent.
Any way after English corner we hopped a cab to the School and met with the Principal and our contact person Amy.
So less than 40 minutes later having been into 2 classes to see what goes on I'm offered some part time work starting at the latest in December and more unbelievable is that they will pay me.
So my weekend draws to a close and due to my new working hours IE I now start work at 2.00 pm - 11.00 pm I have a later night then usual to try and get into some sort of routine.
I have now been here for just over 6 weeks and am really enjoying my time here and as an added bonus I am losing weight so far just over 9 kgs (19lbs) so that is good wont tell you how much i hope to lose but still have some way to go.

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