Barbie Roo!

Didn’t get the best of sleep but I was up and ready when Nat came back from here pilates, first stop was Bunnings (B&Q) to get my keys cut. We then popped past a Western Union joint to get some birthday money from my Dad (thanks!). Feeling the hunger we popped past Rose’s house to have food at the asian place just around the corner. Rose’s mate Greg was there and he looked like Crocodile Dundee. 🙂 I nom’d on some pad thai. There are lots of asian restaurants and massage places in Melbourne I noticed, and asian people.

After food Nat was keen to splurdge her money on a new wakeboard so we went past the shop to get one in time for tomorrows antics. That done (and Nat chuffed as) we headed home (via good ol’ Dan Murphy’s bottle shop for some Torpedo Extra IPA, lovely stuff) and cleaned out the garage a bit.

NOM NOM NOM

Roo on the barbie!

Armed with beers we walked 5 minutes down the road to Nat’s folks house for a barbie. Got to meet her mum Robin, ate lots of ‘roo (delicious!), talked about many things and left with a jigsaw puzzle. There is even some old home brew kit that they said I could have and they also pointed out Aldi will be selling mountain bikes dirt cheap on Wednesday so I’ll be looking to pick one up. Barbie today was great! 😀

Grass that throws poo at you

Woke up this morning feeling fine which is always a boost after having drunk a few the night before. There was a bloody racket going on outside my room though as some of Benjamin’s mates had arrived to play. Took the pressure off me at least. A nice surprise arrived in the mail a card from my mate Rowan and his girlfriend Shona, aptly entitled “Beer” with some Aussie money inside for purchase of said refreshment. Cheers guys! 😀

My breakfast (note: brunch) was Papa John’s Pizza. I surfed the net and read a bit until around 3PM when Benjamin and Co. went out too play. I said I would join them a few minutes later, Benjamin said they would be near the baboon. Haha! (Bamboo by the way) When I did leave I couldn’t find them anywhere in the compound, no baboon’s that I could see, so I proceeded to kick about the football I had brought for over an hour.

With the air going bad I returned home to find Benjamin and his mate playing away, fudge knows where they had went. His friend stayed for tea and overnight so that meant I didn’t need to entertain the wee man at all, except when he needed my password to download an iPad game. Yu came home later on in the evening (6 day work weeks, arsed) and told me Ben should be arriving tomorrow, cool.

Overall it has been a very chilled Saturday, if the weather is good tomorrow I’ll try and make up for it.

They came from Mars…

The bloody air was guff today so I didn’t want to go out in it, feeling better too. Goa A Yi has definitely been hit by the cold though as she asked me to take Benjamin back to school after lunch. Not a problem.

Got my flight checked in for Oz just need to print my boarding pass, apparently I’ll be charged for one at the airport if I forget it. Haha. Been reading a lot about beer, where I can go for beer in Melbourne and playing a game on my phone about beer. I may have issues… I’m also re-reading H.G. Wells “War of the Worlds”, it’s such a fantastic read and leaves you with a scarily awesome depiction of what it would be like if Victorian England were attacked by Martians. It was published in 1898 and it’s like reading something newly released! Mental.

Benjamin was home earlier again today so after tea we played with Lego and filmed a scene on the iPad (possible nod to an Oscar this one). As you can see my creation was somewhat influenced by my current read…

Tripod complete with Heat Ray, Black Smoke launcher, human storage area and robo tentacle

War of the Worlds II, coming to a DVD store near you!

Also Yu gave me the money from the Au Pair company bonus PLUS a chunk of cash on top. Jebus I wasn’t expecting anything but she’s given me 2000RMB/200GBP saying how grateful they were of me coming here. I couldn’t accept it but she was insistent and wanted me to have it. Bloody awesome I thanked her loads! I also got my Scottish money back as it was kept in her safe along with $40 (Canadian) as she couldn’t find one of my 20 notes and she didn’t want the dollars any more. This will help me loads when I arrive in Oz super chuffed. 😀

Look at all that pink!

Oh and Goa A Yi is definitely ill as she’s just been barfing in the bathroom next door. Nice.

Common as muck

I was up and out of Randy’s place before 10AM and arrived home just after half past. Really needed a shower and a coffee. After lunch I helped Benjamin with his EF homework (he also has a party there today too) and we played a few rounds of ‘Worms 2′. I’ve been attempting to drop in more complex/sciency words like gravity, oxygen and velocity just to add to his vocabulary and understanding of stuff.

So he buggered off to EF class (I told him to bring back some sweets) and I stayed in, listening to tunes and doing my usual lazy Sunday. I was tempted to go to the shops but ultimately couldn’t be arsed. Benjamin wasn’t home until after 8PM, so I barely got a word in before he was off to bed. I did get a sweet though (no Snickers, damn).

Right… let’s try and make this a tad more interesting and informative. “Gadgets and the Chinese”. So before I arrived here I wasn’t too sure what to expect, overall I thought everyone would be poor. Now this is the case but the people who are rich are stinking rich, still this doesn’t seem to stop your average Joe holding the latest smartphone in his hand watching a film on the subway. Honestly most people I see (Beijingers mind) have pimpin’ electronic devices (smartphones, tablets, iPad’s, etc) usually with their faces buried in them, chatting on WeChat or taking a photo. Photo’s, bloody hell. They seem to take photo’s of everything, information signs at touristy places (too busy now I’ll read it later), close ups of flowers, themselves (the ‘selfie’), Westerners, etc. And lots of people have top of the range DSLR’s hanging round their necks, makes me feel poor. It must be something to do with working so much and not having any free time to do anything with their money, I don’t know but it definitely surprised me.

Odd advert with an armed dude and a baby (so it would seem)

I hope that’s your elbow…

So Mandarin class times have now changed to 10am, and I thought this would avoid the rush hour. It did, I suppose, but the subway carriages are still packed, parts of my body were in places they shouldn’t be in public, or at all really.

The generally atmosphere this morning was great though, sun out but cool temperature, people bustling about for work and food carts selling breakfast food stuff. I’ll be buying some of that street food for sure.

Sanlitun, home of the rich and western

At class we learned about vegetables, shops and reviewed what we learned about money. After class the girls went for lunch but I wasn’t up for it so instead I went to the Sanlitun embassy district for some DVD’s.

This street connects the swish zones and is littered with bars and shops

My DVD shop of choice

I was rehearsing some Chinese to query about the cost of the DVD’s, which I successfully did, but the reply had nothing to do with money, I was stumped. I felt chuffed they understood me but then a numpty because I was out of my depth straight away. At least I did what I could eh? Thankfully they spoke English and I paid my 24RMB (2.40) for 3 DVD’s and left.

Fairly swish place this

On the way back I tried to spy the British embassy but the closest I got was Sweden.

3rd Ring Road where my closest subway stop is for class

Randy was by again tutoring Benjamin so I got a little advice about teaching but I’ll badger him further soon enough. Goa A Yi has been experimenting with South Korean food lately so today we had a fusion (I think of Garcia when I type this) of kimchi and squid served at room temp (was nice), slightly spicy tomato mushroom rice and some shredded cucumber and tofu. As I was explaining over dinner my opinion of tofu has drastically changed since being in China, this style was like noodles, it was great.

Played a bit with Benjamin after tea and pre-warned him of our one hour sessions to come, we shall see what tomorrow brings.

I also watched Kick Ass 2 (one of the DVD’s I bought) and it was enjoyable but, as with most sequels, not as funny or OTT (for Kick Ass). The style just seemed to be lacking, seemed to basic and not their, Jim Carrey was a wasted cast member too I felt. If he had mentioned anything about a glove it would have gained at least an extra half star from me.

No, your melon’s are too expensive!

I left for class earlier today because Benjamin was at school (obviously) and Goa A Yi is ill so she wouldn’t be making lunch. I knew of a Chinese fast food joint on route to class so headed there. I was preparing some Chinese phrases (like asking for the menu) before I arrived but when I walked in there was a big back board menu with pictures. A quick scan (it still wasn’t in English though) and I could see a pork belly dish, so I pointed to it, and also the Chinese style pancakes (which I could say!). I paid my 15RMB (1.50), took my ticket and moved on in the queue. As always it takes seconds to get your meal so I was munching away in no time. Fast food tastes good and the portions are nice, especially for the price.

I took a random route to class as I had time to kill and wanted to see if I could improve on the way I get there currently. I found a slightly quicker route which is cool. Today’s class was fairly useful as we learned about the money and how to spend it. We dealt with fruit mainly so this included weight, handy to know for sure (a standard measurement is 500g). RMB also stands for ren min bi – people’s money, and the smallest denomination feels like it’s made of plastic and values at 0.1p.

Randy was tutoring Benjamin today, as expected, instead a new friend (she is related in some way) from New York was over. About the same age as Benjamin and the way she flicks between Chinese and American was very impressive. After tea (kimchi is standard just now whilst Ben is here, good stuff) I chilled. Hopefully my badminton partner won’t be ill for too long! 😉

The Compound

Benjamin gave me a little tour of the compound where we live. Basically it’s housing with a wall around it and gates/security. Sounds like something out of Bagdad but it really isn’t. Quite common I think.

Went to Benjamin’s Lego class with the Nanny but it was closed so we walked about for a bit instead and popped into another compound where Benjamin played with some kids trying to catch fish.

Later I found out that China is much like England in that it doesn’t like Scottish money. Gah! Very annoying. But not much I can do. (£200 useless).

Also visited a mall just across the road which has loads of shops including a cinema. We did a little shop at the supermarket, so much food to choose from! Will need to visit again soon.

Had cake today too which was fairly Nom. 🙂