Today was my last day teaching for this semester. This week has been fairly easy with just the last few exams, scoring them and showing many of my classes Wallace and Grommit. Yesterday I took part in a dialogue challenge for my Grade 1 Ideal classes which required the students to learn dialogues based on phrases I had taught and then to adjust them to their own liking. It went very well and many of the students, thanks to some hard work from their Chinese teachers, were pretty much flawless.
So, what to do now? I am off until the end of August and, as I have said, I want to spend a lot of time writing but I am also planning on doing some travelling as well. On Sunday I am going to Putuoshan with Zak for a couple of days but as she is working she can't get away for too long. The plan then was to go to Xinjiang with Nick, who has just finished his contract here at Huamao, but now he has been offered a permanent job that he can't really turn down. So, I am still going to Xinjiang but I will probably leave it for a week before I head off now.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Monday, June 12, 2006
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | Google 'compromised principles' over China
Interesting article. I had noticed that for the past few weeks I've been having problems reaching Google and my mail sporadically which I guess is all connected. One of the interesting comments here is "[Mr Brin] said virtually all the company's customers in China used the uncensored service." I guess, given the choice, you go for the one with the best results, even if it means you can't reach some of the sites you want - like wikipedia, BBC news, Wired blog, any geocities site and Blogspot. It's also interesting how Google keep engaging on this issue, unlike the resounding silence from companies like Yahoo and Microsoft who have actively helped the government arrest people or suppress content. (Sorry, I meant "obeyed local laws").
Interesting article. I had noticed that for the past few weeks I've been having problems reaching Google and my mail sporadically which I guess is all connected. One of the interesting comments here is "[Mr Brin] said virtually all the company's customers in China used the uncensored service." I guess, given the choice, you go for the one with the best results, even if it means you can't reach some of the sites you want - like wikipedia, BBC news, Wired blog, any geocities site and Blogspot. It's also interesting how Google keep engaging on this issue, unlike the resounding silence from companies like Yahoo and Microsoft who have actively helped the government arrest people or suppress content. (Sorry, I meant "obeyed local laws").
Monday, June 05, 2006
I haven't really been up to all that much, certainly nothing that really seemed worth recording in the blog, but I figured I'd get something down.
I was asked by the school to participate in a competition to write an essay about Ningbo through a foreigner's eyes. I gave it a go, tried to write the most complimentary thing I could in half an hour and submitted it. Unfortunately I'm up against some stiff competition as I don't think I sucked up nearly as much as some of the other entries (although I did try). You can read the essays on the Ningbo Today website.
I've been working on my novel - mostly by writing down everything I know about it in a Tiddlywiki. This allows me to make WikiWords which can be used to identify other tihngs I want to write about as background so the whole process is kind of like mindmapping except that it allows me to explore ideas in a way that suits me better as a writer - and the tiddly creates a fantastic reference for me for when I am writing. I counted the number of words are in it yesterday and it already comes to nearly 5000 and there's still plenty I want to add in to it as well. It's a fantastic writer's tool - or indeed for any planning task. Of course mind mapping is still useful for a lot of reasons but this is a kind of next step on the process.
Speaking of which I suppose I ought to also big up N-Gen, a random name generator for writers and anyone else who might be interested in such things. It's been built by a friend of mine but it's simple and it works well. That also reminded me of WriteThis which I've also now downloaded again and is a great little app for just getting started.
As for work; I'm giving examinations this week and probably part of next week too. They're fairly simple (it has to be to get through 40 kids in 40 minutes) and it kind of makes it a fairly easy week in some ways as I just have to sit there and prompt the kids for answers to some basic questions that they should be able to answer. Of course what it does mean is that this semester, for me, is nearly over and I need to start thinking about the summer holidays. I am probably going to spend some time in and around Ningbo to do some intensive writing but I am also planning at least one big trip away. I am thinking about going to Kashgar*, in Xinjiang, which probably will take about 5 days of travelling overland (it's possible to fly but still difficult and extremely expensive) but it just somehow seems worth it. Haven't really decided for definite (well, ok, I probably have) and I haven't any firm plans so I'll keep you updated.
Yesterday I had an interview to do some part-time work teaching some employees of a stationary exporters. It's a small company and they seem nice and are willing to let me dictate when and where so it should suit me over the next few months so I can earn a little bit of cash and meet new people without disrupting my plans too much. (I've already turned down two offers of full-time summer schools...)
And that's about it.
*That link was going to take you to a page on Rough Guides web site but they have implemented an absolutely terrible website that doesn't allow me to link to the page I want because it uses javascript for everything. Idiots.
I was asked by the school to participate in a competition to write an essay about Ningbo through a foreigner's eyes. I gave it a go, tried to write the most complimentary thing I could in half an hour and submitted it. Unfortunately I'm up against some stiff competition as I don't think I sucked up nearly as much as some of the other entries (although I did try). You can read the essays on the Ningbo Today website.
I've been working on my novel - mostly by writing down everything I know about it in a Tiddlywiki. This allows me to make WikiWords which can be used to identify other tihngs I want to write about as background so the whole process is kind of like mindmapping except that it allows me to explore ideas in a way that suits me better as a writer - and the tiddly creates a fantastic reference for me for when I am writing. I counted the number of words are in it yesterday and it already comes to nearly 5000 and there's still plenty I want to add in to it as well. It's a fantastic writer's tool - or indeed for any planning task. Of course mind mapping is still useful for a lot of reasons but this is a kind of next step on the process.
Speaking of which I suppose I ought to also big up N-Gen, a random name generator for writers and anyone else who might be interested in such things. It's been built by a friend of mine but it's simple and it works well. That also reminded me of WriteThis which I've also now downloaded again and is a great little app for just getting started.
As for work; I'm giving examinations this week and probably part of next week too. They're fairly simple (it has to be to get through 40 kids in 40 minutes) and it kind of makes it a fairly easy week in some ways as I just have to sit there and prompt the kids for answers to some basic questions that they should be able to answer. Of course what it does mean is that this semester, for me, is nearly over and I need to start thinking about the summer holidays. I am probably going to spend some time in and around Ningbo to do some intensive writing but I am also planning at least one big trip away. I am thinking about going to Kashgar*, in Xinjiang, which probably will take about 5 days of travelling overland (it's possible to fly but still difficult and extremely expensive) but it just somehow seems worth it. Haven't really decided for definite (well, ok, I probably have) and I haven't any firm plans so I'll keep you updated.
Yesterday I had an interview to do some part-time work teaching some employees of a stationary exporters. It's a small company and they seem nice and are willing to let me dictate when and where so it should suit me over the next few months so I can earn a little bit of cash and meet new people without disrupting my plans too much. (I've already turned down two offers of full-time summer schools...)
And that's about it.
*That link was going to take you to a page on Rough Guides web site but they have implemented an absolutely terrible website that doesn't allow me to link to the page I want because it uses javascript for everything. Idiots.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Well the weather is getting warmer and the end of term is getting nearer. In fact, after tomorrow, I only have 3 weeks of teaching left. Time really seems to have flown by even though it also feels like an age since I left the UK. Still, it means I now have to start working out what I'm going to do for the summer.
This book looks interesting....
Strange Horizons Reviews: Visionary in Residence by Bruce Sterling, reviewed by James A. Trimarco
This book looks interesting....
Strange Horizons Reviews: Visionary in Residence by Bruce Sterling, reviewed by James A. Trimarco
Thursday, May 18, 2006
I've been a bit ill this week with a cold and sore throat and ear. I went to the doctors yesterday and was given two drips, some antibiotics and some throat lozenges. The drips are bit over the top but tey are used to administer some kind of medicine. Am starting to feel a lot better now although my ear is still sore. Have had some time off work as there's no way I could have taught and mostly I just lay in bed.
On Tuesday evening I had an interesting chat with a man in Shanghai who is interested in Lifehacking and GTD. We started by discussing linux distros and it kind of went downhill from there... still it was nice to geek out for a bit and I've offered to help him set up lifehack.cn, which could be fun. He also put me onto a site that gives you 1GB free storage space for files - useful for backup and accessing anywhere:
And, this week, Google Notebook is here, which looks pretty good despite not being able to tag stuff. Handy for collecting research from the web together and not a bad interface either.
PS. David makes a good point about the box link (see comments) - use that and help me on my way to a free account upgrade! What are you waiting for?
On Tuesday evening I had an interesting chat with a man in Shanghai who is interested in Lifehacking and GTD. We started by discussing linux distros and it kind of went downhill from there... still it was nice to geek out for a bit and I've offered to help him set up lifehack.cn, which could be fun. He also put me onto a site that gives you 1GB free storage space for files - useful for backup and accessing anywhere:
And, this week, Google Notebook is here, which looks pretty good despite not being able to tag stuff. Handy for collecting research from the web together and not a bad interface either.
PS. David makes a good point about the box link (see comments) - use that and help me on my way to a free account upgrade! What are you waiting for?
Friday, May 12, 2006
So, after a short break it's back to work. Spent Sunday spraying for cockroaches and sweeping up the remains. Actually I'm still occasionally sweeping up the remains as there are more, er, victims every morning. Basically after having a cockroach jump at me for the third time after opening my fridge door (they like to rest in the space between the fridge and freezer doors) I'd had enough.
Teaching has been pretty fun, the kids seem mostly to be glad to be back (although one class was just so so when I asked them how they were). The only day that was a bit rough was Wednesday but that was entirely my own fault. I went out on Tuesday night for Noah's birthday and we had way too much beer and sake at a Japanese restaurant. mmm sushi. I also found out I had another story rejected on Wednesday morning.
And tonight it's Steven's birthday so it looks like I may have to do it all again. In the meantime I'm listening to Black Grape and enjoying an unexpected afternoon off as my tutor students are not back from Korea yet.
Teaching has been pretty fun, the kids seem mostly to be glad to be back (although one class was just so so when I asked them how they were). The only day that was a bit rough was Wednesday but that was entirely my own fault. I went out on Tuesday night for Noah's birthday and we had way too much beer and sake at a Japanese restaurant. mmm sushi. I also found out I had another story rejected on Wednesday morning.
And tonight it's Steven's birthday so it looks like I may have to do it all again. In the meantime I'm listening to Black Grape and enjoying an unexpected afternoon off as my tutor students are not back from Korea yet.
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