Since my return from Japan, I have not done much else but teach and tackle various other academic jobs such as research paper writing, meetings and admin, so I am due a blog entry and my g*d I was due a trip off campus. So finally the excuse lent itself that a very good friend of mine was in the country and we could return to Hangzhou. Unfortunately he had to fly out again a day before we had the chance to go, but nevertheless some other friends of mine and I decided to set off as planned.
Sometimes, living on the other side of the world is really bl**dy frustrating. It’s not just the time difference, the miles apart and the fact that we are living in a completely alien country which can get exasperating, but also the fact that due to it being so alien, it feels as though we are completely cut off from what is going on around us (and the rest of the world for that matter). Yes, there is always the ONE and only international, english speaking, tv channel which we could watch, or the abundant rss feeds on the internet to keep us feeling the pulse of what’s going on in the rest of the world, but somehow that’s not the same as actually being part of and interacting with the (now so far away) more familiar part of the world.
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Shanghai (上海) during Typhoon season
Spend last weekend in Shanghai to catch up with friends and explore its streets some more. To my despair we are currently in the middle of typhoon season and heavy downpours followed me around throughout my trip; running for shelter, standing in passage ways and being forced to stop and appreciate my surroundings at length and in more detail enabled me however to find new alley ways with antique shops and observe some more extraordinary behaviour.
The view of Pudong during the day; the view of Shanghai from Pudong in the evening
Told you there’d be no escaping the mooncakes … as part of the celebrations of ‘teachers’ day’ yesterday, we all got given mooncakes. I should probably provide you with a ‘cutting a long story short’ explanation of teachers’ day: to commemorate and celebrate Confucius’ contributions to Chinese culture and society, the Ministry of Education set his birth date (28th Sept.) to be national teachers’ day; fortunately it doesn’t just involve the big man, but symbolises a pat on the back for all teachers and educators in China. The date was recently changed to the 10th Sept.
I have been back to China for almost a week now and have pretty much settled in. Thankfully, due to iron willpower, I managed to overcome my yet-lag quite quickly by trying my very hardest to adapt to the local time as soon as I arrived. I am now back to my usual 6am to 11pm days of work, reading, running and yoga.
Left Ningbo on Wednesday morning, via Hangzhou Bay Bridge, to head up to Shanghai for a 48 hour indulgence.
Real life insights and reflections
Had an invitation in Shanghai last night to go and attend a screening of a documentary shot in Guilin, in the area of the three gorges, on the relocation and hardship of the locals as a result of the three gorges dam.
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Over the last few months I have been documenting some of the flora on campus – and as the semester draws to a close, the floral display on campus is reaching its zenith. So last weekend I took a few hours off work to try and re-generate from my marking marathon and bring you some more of the sublime floral fireworks that are exploding all over campus.