Karaoke Night

Saturday 31^th August

Invited over to a friend’s flat for an afternoon of painting.  He has started getting back into it with a huge box of paints and a box of Heroquest to practice on before doing the good stuff.  I chose this old evil sorcerer, must be the third I have painted over the years!  Still, hope to paint again soon.  My first miniature in China.

Evening the plan was first to play poker, but with a mix of school friends, and in laws we went out to a karaoke bar instead for something everyone could take part in without language barriers. I wasn’t so keen to start with at all, but actually highly rate it, a lot of fun and would definitely go again.  I found that, mostly, I don’t know the lyrics of most songs beyond the chorus, leaving it a struggle even when the words are on the screen.  Also the video from the night really has some terrible singing on it...

Sunday 1^st September

Wrote this day off.  Watched TV and played games all day.

Monday 2^nd September

Flag raising ceremony at break time, staggeringly hot outside.  First the anthem and then some speeches by pupils in Chinese and English about how they should all be grateful for the sacrifices of the teachers, which apparently includes going without food or rest??!  Bloody hell, after 20 minutes I thought my cheap shoes were going to melt on the concrete, feet were scorching in the direct sun.

Picked up some mooncakes in the supermarket, these seem rather high quality ones. They look like an Aztec tablet, but with Chinese writing about a hundred fruits, I think.  The filling tastes something like a rich Christmas fruit cake with a biscuit coating.

Tuesday 3^rd September

First practical class with my Y12, seemed to go well even though the results didn’t come anything close to the calculated amount of gas we should have made. Bit of a puzzle.  They seem to have a good sense of humour in the class and are generally a bit more talkative than my Y11.

Two power cuts in two days at the flat, for 5-10 minutes in the morning.  Probably should invest in some candles if this keeps happening.

Finally got my passport back with my residency permit.  Hurrah!  Next job is to get a bank account so I can actually be paid...