An Englishman In The East v2

Seems that I don’t get all that much time to post to the blog these days. Our winter session at worked kicked off with two intensive courses… The HF Club! These is, in principle, a glorified babysitting service. None of the teachers here are all that happy about it. But we’re getting through it.

Spoke to Gareth last night about his Young Pioneer Tour company website (http://www.youngpioneertours.com) and it was a pretty good meeting. Some exciting things coming up and a couple of really BIG (and I mean HUGE) things that we’re working on. Won’t say too much for now, but when we’ve spoken more about things, then I’ll let you know what’s going on. But trust me, it’s huge.

There are other things on the horizon as well, but they also are being kept under wraps until I’m in a position to say more. But it’s certainly made me a happy bunny in the last couple of weeks.

Spring Festival is coming up and Spring and I will be heading to Meixian to celebrate with her family. Should be a good time to relax. We’ll be taking the PS3 and laptop up there. I’ll be able to get a little work on the websites done and also we can enjoy some movies and games whilst relaxing. Stepmania is already loaded on the laptop… Just wish there was an actual machine nearby…

Another note: Spring is learning to make sculptured dolls and caricatures. We recieved a set of DVDs that we purchased from Creager Studios (www.creagers.com) and will also be studying those throughout the festival and Spring will start practicing making them when we get back. Found places to buy the polymer clay and some tools. Can’t wait to give it a try.

Talking about that, Jodi & Richard Creager have been extremely helpful in helping us get started and we took a look at some of the DVD when they arrived. If anyone has an interest in art and wants to give sculpting a try, these DVDs are pretty damn good. There are clips on YouTube, but that’s nowhere near as much as the DVD shows. The DVDs are two hours… The clips on YouTube total around 25 minutes.

We’re both getting excited about doing stuff in polymer clay. I’ll be working on an eCommerce site later in the year and that will also be integrated into Spring’s website for her dolls. I’ll tell you now, they’re not going to be cheap! We already asked around people what they think something like these would be worth and we’re going with those prices. After all, each one is an individual work of art.

Well, that’s all for now. I keep rambling every time I post but not a lot of new information. If I think of anything interesting, I’ll add it in. But until then… Catch you later!

The past few weeks have been crazy mad at work. Had no time to sit down and do many of the things I like doing. Christmas Day was lovely. Spring & I got up early (we were actually woken by mum & dad calling at 5am that day…) and opened our gifts. I bought Spring a Swatch watch and a Swarovski necklace. Looks lovely on her. She got me a second PS3 controller, box of Ferrero Rocher and a new guitar bag. It’s lovely! When we head off for a holiday, I’m taking it with us.

Mum & dad sent over a couple of gifts, too. I got a puzzle book and socks, Spring got some make-up and a pair of slippers. Tina sent us some stuff, but it went missing in the post. Bloody postal services.They also sent us some money and with that, Spring has got some clothes (and still has money left). I got a couple of games (EyePet and Tekken 6 for the PS3) a new jumper / hoodie… I know… I usually hate hoodies, but this one was quite nice. I also picked up a couple of sets of guitar strings.

Finally got a chance to play on Tekken 6 this morning. Kick ass! I’ve got about 35% of the trophies so far… Still quite a way to go before I get that Platinum, though. There are a few online trophies, but nowhere near as many as Little Big Planet, so it should be manageable… If that’s how you spell it…

The thing about Tekken 6 on the PS3 is the Scenario Campaign… It’s a cool storyline, but there are quite a few long winded cut scenes in there. You can skip them, but I’ve become too involved in the storyline now. Interesting to see how it finishes up. Then I have to go back to the arena with all of the unlocked characters to see their prologues and end movies… Then I have to go back on Hard mode to unlock some extra stages, then I have to at least compete in 30 matched online… That should give me most of the trophies. See what’s left after that lot…

Anyways, only a quick post. Belated Merry Christmas to anyone reading, and just in time to say Happy New Year! Catch you later! (In 2010, no less…)

Actually, that’s probably the spices for Christmas baking that I can smell… But ’tis a nice smell. It’s this time of the year when I really want to go home to have a real Christmas with all the family, but it’s not possible. However, this is the first Christmas that I will be spending as a married man. That’s a good thing.I’ve bought a couple of gifts for Spring for Christmas (won’t write what they are here in case she looks on here… Not sure if she does, but in the last few months she’s been using “Catch you later!” on messages to me… And I’ve never actually said that out loud as far as I’m aware…). She’s got me three things… One of them is bloody huge! In fact, it’s bigger than the Christmas tree!

I should point out that our Christmas tree isn’t very big… It’s a little 3 footer, but still… It’s a big gift. Maybe it’s another Christmas tree! Also, speaking of gifts, my sister’s package still hasn’t arrived. Posted on the 20th November… Same day as mum’s (they went to post it together) and the same time, mum’s got here and hers didn’t… So bloody strange.It’s been almost a month since it was posted and no sign of it. I’ve checked at the local post office and the regional centre to see if it’s got held up anywhere along the line… Nothing recieved. Technically, I didn’t check. Someone at work did it for me. It might have got sent the worng way round… Instead of airmail, someone might have cocked up and put it on the boat instead… Just have to wait and see.

On other notes, this week is super busy and it means I don’t have a lot of time for doing many things unrelated to work. Our Director of Studies has left now, so there’s nobody in charge of the school’s foreign teachers except me (hoping I can move on up into that position… That’d be nice.) Also this week, I’m taking over the demonstration classes as well as an activity and two different presentation classes with reports to write for those. Next week, there’s another presentation class, two demos and an activity followed by the same the week after. There’s also been complaints from the teachers about working on Boxing Day at 8:30am in the morning having to teach. The option was given to them to move their classes… But they equally didn’t want to finish at 9pm on that day, either. I can see their point. I mean, most people like to have a good drink on Christmas night and play a game of cards or something… So having to work so early the next day is not all that good. Especially in a profession like teaching. If you work in a supermarket, you’ll probably be unfortunate to have a 10am start at the earliest… But at least they understand you’re going to be hung-over or something. With teaching, it’s not good to be hung over. Firstly the kids are noisy little buggers who are semi-spoilt little buddhas… Having them screaming their heads off will trigger a HUGE eruption from a teacher. Also, the majority of those classes on that day are presentation classes where the parents come in to the class… So they’re going to come in, smell the alcohol on the teacher and see that they’re hung-over whilst being in charge of their kids… That wouldn’t bode well for the SCHOOL let alone for the teacher. Finally, I wouldn’t be surprised if the teachers we do have call in sick…

I’ve noticed that the teachers in the school are not best thrilled about working here at EF4. The CCs keep selling courses even though we’re getting to our limit on teaching hours. That’s putting pressure on the teachers as their workload is shooting up. The other ADoSes are trying to cut ach out of activities which I’m not in favour of (an activity is 1 hour… which is 1.5ach… They want to give it just 1ach…). There’s also a lot of resentment directed at this year’s staff party. It falls on a Monday. Some people have classes on a Monday. Some have a day off. Those with a day off want to spend their time elsewhere. Those with classes are wondering why they’re being cancelled for a party, but Boxing Day is a full working day… For the foreign staff, they don’t see the staff party as an important event and not something they feel like they have to attend. As for our school, it’s even worse. They’ve chosen a location that’s great for the schools 1 – 3… But miles away from school 4. It makes it difficult for teachers to get there and get back. Personally, I’ll have to leave early due to my apartment getting locked up around 11pm… So to be able to get a bus or taxi back here, I’ll have to leave there around 10pm at the latest… The whole thing starts at 6:30… Which has changed from 4:00… And 6:00… Which they’d make up their f***ing minds… One of the teachers at our school is in a wheelchair, so for them to get the bus is out of the question and taxis seem to stop running from 2pm to 5pm… It seems they all take a break at that time… So how is he going to get there? We’ll have to see if we can have the school mini bus to take us down. Whoever organised the venue really hasn’t given much thought to everyone who lives in the north.

I have to admit, the feeling at work from the other teachers is that of a resentment and hatred towards senior management and their decisions over how to handle foreign staff interests and respect of their traditions and customs. If only this were England where employers are required, by law, to take these things into account. I’m sure if Spring comes to England, her employer would take into consideration the fact that Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday for her and give her a few days off around that time for celebration. Because if they didn’t, it would be so easy to make a claim againt them for something… Wonder if that can happen here… Hong Kong have a 4 day holiday for Christmas… Because, like in England, they also get the first weekday after Christmas day as a bank holiday… And another thing… My calendar shows a list of all the national holidays in Hong Kong and in China… There really isn’t that many in China in comparison to Hong Kong… Should have gone there… At least we could have a proper length Christmas together.

Anyways, I’m just ranting now when I should really be getting ready for work… Catch you later!

By that, I mean Saw on the PS3. I’ve just managed to crack the Platinum trophy on there. There was just one silver giving me a hard time and that was “Merciless”… Curb stomp 5 minions to death. But, after just a couple more hours of play time, I got it! And along with that came the “Congratulations!” trophy which is platinum. That’s my first platinum, too! I suppose it means that Saw won’t see the light of day for a while until I decide I want to have a bash at the bigger traps again (the “minigame” size electric box was quite good).

I like the trophy system on the PS3. Same reason I liked the achievements on 360. It gives you a sense of accomplishment when you finally hit that elusive 100%. BioShock was the only bastard game to do me over on that… I got 100%, then the little buggers patched the game and added the “Complete the game without dying” achievement… Buggered if I was going to play it again like that… Still, if I find the game in the Platinum range at some point, I might give it a bash on the PS3.

So yes, that does officialy signal the complete end of the 360. I’ve tried all sorts of tricks to bring it back to life again, but it’s totally fried. Unless I can find one that’s second hand with just the 360 and nothing else, then I might consider it… My GamerScore was getting quite nice and there are a couple of games I like (also those custom soundtracks which make the difference to me when playing a driving game). How hard can it be to do that on the PS3? Seems a little silly, but there you go.

On another note, I’m quickly filling up my PS3 hard drive with movies and TV shows… It’s a nice little media centre (especially with that BluRay remote). I might even consider taking it instead of the laptop. Let’s face it, this laptop is on its last legs and constantly needs a power socket to work (battery dead). So I can probably replace the battery, but since I don’t often work on the laptop when I go out, there seems to be little point. When we do go away, it’s for a nice little break away from work (the next one wil lbe in February when Spring Fesitval rolls around… Which also falls on Valentine’s Day next year…). We’ll be going to Meixian at that time to be with Spring’s family, so I’ll probably end up taking the PS3 as it’s loaded with movies (with Chinese subtitles) so we can all enjoy a bit of a movie night or something.

Just noticed there’s a scratch on the laptop screen… How the hell did that happen?

Also, in the past week, I’ve trid to quit smoking. I say ‘tried’ because it didn’t work out so well. I had patches and gum, but ended up having a fag because it was just too much. I’m back on the cigs, but am pleased that I’m now down to just 5 a day (from the original 20 a day). So it’s getting there. If I can get down even lower, then it’ll be super simple to quit… In theory…

Picked up a set of kitchen scales this week, too. And for the first time in 3 years, made my Apple & Cinnamon cake! It was quite nice. Going to make another one sometime. At least today is payday, so I can go out and get more of the ingredients at some point. Although today is a strange day. It’s Wednesday… Usually my day is broken up by a couple of hours of interviews somewhere between 2 and 5, but this week I have a PlayWay class (really little kids)… And that starts at 7:15 until 8:15… So my interviews start at 5pm and finish at 7pm, then I have the class at 7:15 and finish at 8:15 which means being home around 8:45 or so, then probably end up in bed around 11. Tomorrow is the day we go to a middle school to teach for two classes and then I have my one-to-one, Kerry. He’s the kid who has a fascination with the word ’shit’.

The middle school is starting to feel like a chore now as Sam, Peter and myself (mostly Sam since he has had a year of full time experience at a middle school) cam up with a nice format to tech the kids and it seemed to be working well. However, the middle school didn’t like it and forced us to change. So now we’re back to spending hours on preparing PPTs and lecture-style classes. We wanted to move away from these PPTs since they take so long to create. We also have to create handouts and homework for them. We’ve said that we’re not going to sit down and check over 500 pieces of homework. So one of the local teachers is going to do it. They don’t seem to realise just how much work it takes for these classes and it starts to detract from our regular classes at EF.

Let me tell you how it works at the school. We’re contracted for a set amount of ACH (academic contact hours) which is blocks of 40 minutes. A standard teacher contract is around 30 ACH per week… That’s 20 *real* hours of teaching. Not a lot, you might think, but that’s taking into consideration the time ittakes to plan a class as well. A class should take about the same length of time to plan as it does to teach. So for a regular 2 hour class, that’s 2 hours of planning and preparation. Which makes a 40 hour week. With me so far?

Now let’s take Changqing. Each class is 40 minutes… There are basically two levels of classes that share the same materials. These are grade 7 and grade 8. A class is just 40 minutes. It should only take 40 minutes to plan… But Changqing takes and *average* of 4 hours to plan a single lesson. It shouldn’t do. A 40 minute class, regardless of how many times it’s used, should only take 40 minutes to plan. One could argue that since the class is taught by the same teacher 3 times, then it’s justified… But it still isn’t. 3 classes is 120 minutes… 2 hours… So it’s still double the length for planning. It’s stupid. And no teacher teaches the same grade more than 3 times. This week, grade 7’s class took TWO people 3 hours to prepare! That’s 6 man-hours. That’s far too long! And those teachers are already on their limit of ACH! They won’t have time to properly prepare their normal classes… It really gets me riled…

Anyway, I appear to have gone off on one and made a stupidly long post when all I really wanted to do was announce my first platinum trophy on the PS3. So happy about that. Until the next time: Catch you later!

Yes. I have been playing Little Big Planet a little too much. But that’s besides the point. Actually… I don’t know what the point of this post is, really. Just a quick “Hi there!”, I suppose.

Tonight is “Beer & Burger Night” round with Sharon & Jason. Looking forward to that. Going to take the PS3 up there in a trial run of my PS3 carry bag… Actually, it’s an old laptop bag that seems to fit the PS3 perfectly, so “nyah”. Also managed to rip a few movies to the hard drive. Never know. Might watch one while we’re there. Although the choices are limited at the moment to Saw 1 through 5, G-Force, Silent Hill and Final Destination 3 (ripping at I type). I so badly want to see Saw 6 and The Final Destination (actually number 4, but for some retarded reason they didn’t put the number on the end). Sadly though, the DVDs aren’t released until January. Which is craptastic. So much for cashing in on the Christmas rush…

Speaking of Christmas, that’s fast approaching… Only about 5 weeks away. And it’s snowing here! Lots of it. Inches upon inches of snow. In one way, that’s a good thing. Maybe we’ll get a white Christmas. On the other hand, it ices up the roads like a bastard and since there aren’t any gritters or intelligent drivers on the road, it makes things a bit dodgy. So far, since the snow, there’s been an accident on the road every day. I’m under the impression that no-one can drive in this city…

Today is a relatively short day. Start at 2pm and finish at 6:30pm followed by heading to the afrementioned Sharon & Jason’s for the aforementioned “Beer & Burger Night” which will be succeeded by a not-mentioned-before day off on Monday and Tuesday (Tuesday being a better one as Spring is off at the same time). Mondays are full of diploma studying and writing essays whilst trying to keep warm next to the radiator and then maybe playing some PS3 in the late afternoon.

In terms of PS3, the VGA cable (which I thought was broken considering I was getting a ghosted image) is working lovely now. Turns out I had the PS3 in the wrong place and it was picking up some RF interference. Not sure if that was from the monitor itself or the amplifier for the sound system. Either way, it’s in a different place and pumping out quite nice HD pics up to 1080i… Which is confusing. It can do 1080p, but I think there’s something strange with the HDCP stuff as it chops off a bit of the left-hand side of the screen and replaces it with a huge black bar with little white flecks every now and again… Still, 1080i is giving me a nice picture and experience. Just need to sort out what to do with PlayStation Home… It’s an interesting notion, but a bit crap at the moment.

Anyways, time to get dressed. Got to run over the Vanguard and pick up some Doritos and tonic water for tonight’s bash. So I’ll run over there (pick up some cigs on the way, I suppose, since I’m all out) then pop back, pick up the PS3 and catch a taxi to work. Not taking the bike today as I’m meeting my lovely wife after work and she hasn’t been feeling too well recently. Don’t want to compound her cold and make it worse. So a taxi will be much better. Until the next time I can be bothered to log in here, or if there’s something big to say, I’ll just end there. Catch you later!