It’s been a couple of weeks since I left, but in August and September, I was living and working in Durham. On the first weekend I arrived, the weather was, shall we say, typical British weather – quite wet. In fact, for the first few days the weather wasn’t great. But things gradually improved, as …
Small world indeed
I’ve been in Durham for the past few weeks, teaching and now the course ended. It’s been an interesting six weeks, and whilst the classes have not always gone to plan, I’ve learned a lot and hopefully the students have too. It’s difficult to see them develop a lot during six short weeks but in …
Fridays for Future
I’ve been working in Durham recently, and yesterday, my last day, coincided with the Fridays For Future climate strikes, by young people across the world. As this was our last day, we were encouraged to educate our students about it. I was posed with a problem – all the technology in my classroom was not …
Home at last
I’ve been home for a while now, and I have to say it is nice to be back. The weather in Beijing has been extremely hot recently (high 30s or even in the 40s). Leaving Beijing was a bit of a nightmare, however. My flight was due to depart in the early hours of Sunday …
A walk through the Fragrant Hills
I was invited to go to the Fragrant Hills a weekend of two back. This is an area on the outskirts of Beijing. There is a new tram which goes there (it opened last year, or the year before I think), but I haven’t been there before. I’ve thought about it, several times, but it …
Sitting on the Iron Throne
Game of Thrones recently finished, which was big news for many fans. I watched the series, but came to it rather late in the day. The final episode was interesting, and I suppose concluded all the stories, though I know lots of people who were annoyed at the ending. I wasn't overly bothered, though it was …
The end is nigh
As the end is nigh, and I only have a handful of classes left, I have been wrapping up my lessons. In my culture course, for instance, I recently had the students discuss what they had learnt from the course and if anything had surprised them. Several things stood out. Firstly, in one class a …
