Fairyland!

Moving

2010-04-24T07:04:00.000+01:00

I'm moving the blog to www.feefairyland.weebly.com

I don't have to use a proxy to access it, which makes life a lot easier!!

So, please continue following there!

Ta

weights and measures

2010-03-11T09:02:00.000Z

Can someone please tell me how to weigh things using spoons?

I made some semolina today from a box that i brought back from the UK...and it was lovely...but it was yellow and turned into a brick when it cooled! i guessed the weights of the semolina and sugar (and the amount of milk...).

I've found some wonderful recipes for microwave cake too, so i'll be giving those a go as soon as i work out the Chinese for 'Self Raising Flour'. Sawyer keeps translating it and laughing and telling me that flowers always raise themselves in the sun...

I might have to cave in and buy some scales...

I will have to make some banana bread at some point. When i was ill, Mark bought me a huge fruit basket, and the bananas are going from green to rubbish...there's no spotty ones! I like my bananas spotty! It did have dragon fruit in it. Dragon fruits are so pretty, they're oval, pink and spiky. The inside looks like it should be like sorbet, but its like a solid melon consistency. I'll take a pic of the remaining half.

Must buy a whisk...i feel bananas and custard (and baked apples...everyone seemed to get me apples when i was ill!) and i need a whisk to make custard!

I'm so glad that i've found some microwave baking recipes. it makes me feel like i can cook real food again. Can't find any recipes for microwave biscuits though...if you have one, put it in the comments!

Ooooh...oooh....drama today! I was cleaning the bathroom and i broke the sink...the pipe that goes from the plughole to the floor drain...broke it clean off! Luckily, it got fixed pretty quickly! I think they had visions of my bathroom flooding!!

I've got to go and see Mark this week, i'll probably go after class tomorrow. Apparently, he can help me get a job next year. I can't stand Mark, but i'll have to suck it up and go see him to see who he knows in Xi'An. Then i've got to work out how to get all my stuff to Xi'An in July.

I'm still trying to work out whether to change my flight to come home in July. If i come home as soon as college finishes in June, then i can get a job for a couple of months in the UK to earn money to come back. If i come home at the end of July, as is the plan at the moment, then i only have a month to earn lots of money.

Does anyone know of a temporary job for July/August?

RIP Corey Haim

2010-03-10T14:41:00.000Z

Its not often that i post an RIP post for someone i don't know, but having spent many a happy hour watching The Lost Boys, finding it a film that i can watch and get lost in, it is with a great sadness that i say RIP Corey Haim. Child star of the 80s, sadly as damaged as any other.

Fingers crossed that Lost Boys 3: The Thirst will be a more fitting memorium than Lost Boys 2: The Tribe.

Internedt access again!

2010-03-10T10:03:00.000Z

I finally have internet access again! There are so many post waiting to go up as well!

I've got Christmas, New Year and all the travelling to tell you about! Its been a bit of a whirlwind, i feel like i've been round half the world in the last couple of months.

Can't stop too long at the moment, we're going to meet the new people at Paisi, the other college in Hechuan tonight. I've also been chosen to randomly check some of the Oral Exam marks as well.

I've been a bit unwell, i had a really heavy cold last week that i was sure was pneumonia, but i went to the doctor, he had a look at my tongue, i had 2 drip things (i don't know what was in them, but it worked!) and a load of tablets, and i'm about 90% better now.

I promise, o faithful readers that i will update more often. I've got to start updating soon, i have so many pictures to share and things to talk about. Its been an amazing journey round China and i definitely feel the need to share!

Halloween Hechuan Style

2009-11-08T06:38:00.001Z

Halloween – Hechuan Style

Last night was Halloween, and I admit, I was reluctant to go. The party has been off and on for the last few weeks, firstly because of swine flu, and then because we think the local government realised that there was a risk of somewhere in the region of 2000 students descending on a small nightclub.

I also objected to us as westerners being used as advertising tools. The reason that the nightclub agreed to the party was that it was agreed that we would sing and dance...well, the others would sing and dance. Our side of the deal was that there was free beer all night (hmmm....i don't drink beer...see why I wasn't going to make a fool of myself!).

We left here at about 7 and went to Haisi, the other college in Hechuan to meet up with Catherine and Phil, two american teachers who are there. We all dressed up, I was in lots of black and makeup. I eventually decided that I was Little Miss Suicide (A History of Guns character), Catherine was pregnant white trash (i'm not sure that the Chinese really got the white trash part, but the pregnant bump was surprisingly realistic!!), Alison was a panda, Carolina was a Zombie, Pete was Superman, Lily was a witch, Phil was an american aerobics coach, and Phoenix and Mat were pirates.

Halloween group
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

We had been advertising the party to our students, and some of them made a real effort,

Halloween
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

others were quite last minute.

Halloween - FBI
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

We got the Manhattans at about 9ish, and were deluged by students, I had two literally hanging off me!

Halloween - me and my students
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

They were really sweet, but they all had to be back at their dorms by 11. Students here are treated like children sometimes, they have to be back at the dorm ready for lights out at 11, and they're not allowed kitchens, or even kettles...

There was lots of free beer, and I had a bottle of coke that I brought with me. There was no more cola appearing at any time, which I found a little annoying. I've got toothache, so i've been taking the antibiotics that the dentist prescribed before I left to try and ward off a trip to a chinese dentist (I think I need a deep filling changing for a root canal...), and so there was no way I could drink alcohol (the tablets say in big letters DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL, when you pick them up, the pharmacist insists that you understand that you cannot drink alcohol when taking them, and all over the literature, it says 'DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL, so I wasn't about to try it). So far, they seem to be working, so hopefully, I won't be blogging about the Chinese dentist experience just yet!!

Unforunately, the others didn't perform until about 10 to 11, buy which time all the students had left, which was disappointing for me, because I wanted the students to see what they had come for.

However...before us was a Chinese drag act...it was surprisingly good!

Halloween - drag act
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

There were debates between us as to whether the performer was male or female, and so we asked the students, who told us that I was definitely a lady. Then, some other students said 'no, its a man' and it carried on until the Man/Woman revealed that yes, he was a man. I wish I had been quick enough to have my camera out when my students found this out...their faces were so funny!

The nightclub closed at 12:30, which was really odd for me, i'm used to going to nightclubs that don't close until 3am!! After the club, we were invited by two gentlemen to go to a fish barbecue. The food was really really nice! There was fish, and chicken wings, and squid, all marinaded and then barbecued.

Alison and I left a bit earlier than the others, she was tired and I had decided that it was probably time to go home when there was a drunken Englishman arguing with a drunken American over whether the Monarchy was any good, along with a drunken Irish girl agreeing with whoever spoke next...she'd be more interesting if she could actually have an opinion of her own someday...

It was really odd being home at 2am knowing that the nightclub was closed and the night was over, but then Halloween Chinese style was never going to be the same as Halloween English style!

Long Time No See!!

2009-11-02T02:34:00.001Z

Well...long time no update! I know my mum's been worried because i've not updated, and there are others who are expressing concern too!

Its very nice to know i'm loved!

Anyway...let me think what i've been up to...

Firstly there was the National Day trip to Chengdu. National Day is held on the 1st October here. I'm still not sure what it actually commemorates, but it is a 3 day national holiday. Then, on the 3rd was Autumn Festival, which seems to mean that everyone eats Mooncakes and floats boats with candles in them in the river.

We went to Chengdu to see pandas, and see pandas we did!

Panda 1
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

panda 2
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

Chengdu was really good, it was helpful because we could get Panda Cards – they are subsidised by the Government. After the Earthquake, the Government gave Chengdu a lot of money to rebuild, but they didn't need it all, so the decision was made to give back to the people by creating the Panda card. The Panda card costs 1Y (10p) and allows you free entry into the places showing the symbol. We got Panda cards on the first night we were there.

We got there on the Friday night, and stayed at a place called the Traffic Inn. We booked the place online, believing it was a Hostel, but when we got there, it turned out that we were actually in a hotel. It was very nice!

On the Saturday, we were originally planning to go to the Panda Sanctuary, but we got there too late to book it for the next day.

So, on Saturday we wandered about a bit, and then went to do some cultural things. Firstly, we went to a place called the Jengshu Archaelogical Site. This is where they found remains from centuries ago and they've created a whole visitors centre and tourist site out of it. It is very beautiful, the surrounding scenery was so pretty .

Jengshu Scenery
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

jengshu stream
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

There was the main visitors centre, where the remains and the location of important objects was shown

Jingshu Archaeological site
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

,
and there was the museum, where they had recreated a village, it looked very very much like a Saxon village from England,.

Village
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

It was really hard to work out the timescale of the place because time isn't measured in years in history, its measured in Dynasties, so if you don't know Chinese history, then time is really hard to fathom!

We also went to Dufu's Thatched Cottage, which is a place where the Chinese poet Dufu took himself to live away from civilisation.

IMGP0799
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

He built a thatched cottage and stayed there and wrote. He also cultivated a medicinal garden and beautiful scenery.

IMGP0791
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

And what are these you may ask!

IMGP0797
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

Fish!
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

That's right...Fish...lots and lots of fish...Don't show Sharkie and Mickey Finn, they might start getting ideas of sizes to grow to...

Giant fish!
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

Like this one...This size of goldfish (and Koi Carp) seems to be the norm here. There is a difference, this is a Koi Carp, not a goldfish, but still, I don't want mine getting any ideas about outgrowing their tank!!

During the visit to Dufu's Cottage, it started to rain...really, properly rain! So we decided to try to get back to the hotel. By the time we got there, we were absolutely soaked to the skin! It was the first real rain we'd seen, so the first few minutes were quite refreshing, but after that, it didn't stop. It was like a heavy thunderstorm, but without the thunder and lightning!

Saturday night, we met up with some of Alison's friends from her previous time in China. They were interesting people, one of them was Korean and kept talking about how learning to speak Mandarin had completely ruined her intonation in Korean. If Korean's anything like Mandarin, the intonation can mean the difference between understanding and gibberish.

Very early Sunday morning, we went to the Panda Sanctuary. It was wonderful! There were real Pandas!! They were gorgeous animals, and not as big as I thought they were, and a lot more lazy! There were the 'Pandas Asleep' ,

panda asleep
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

and the 'Pandas in Heaven'.

panda in heaven
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

This panda literally had a blanket of bamboo!

I really really loved my video camera that day, it has a 60x optical zoom, so I was getting telephoto shots without having a massive lens. I love my video camera!

panda closeup
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

The Panda Sanctuary was really interesting, but I did feel that we were rushed around a lot of it. Sadly because of its tourist potential, it did suffer from the money grabbing side of China. We looked around a lot of the adult Panda enclosures quite quickly, but when it got to the bit where we could pay to hold a baby panda, or have photos taken with them, we were kept there for ages! Presumably, it was to tempt us into paying (400y, or £40 for a picture with adult pandas, and 1000Y, or £100 for a picture with a baby). I don't believe in that kind of thing, I don't like seeing wild animals being used for tourist entertainment, so I carried on wandering around. As well as black and white, or traditional pandas, there were also red pandas. These are really cute and they're about the same size as Finlay (small-medium dog), and they had a lot of character. When we were looking at them, their enclosures were being cleaned, and they were sticking their noses in the baskets of cloths and cleaning materials, chasing the brooms and making nuisances of themselves.

red panda
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

red panda basket
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

Sadly, I can't get the videos from my video camera on here, I think I need to burn them to DVD first, and then convert that to something that can be used.

After the Panda Sanctuary, we went back to the Hotel. I went to get something to eat, whilst some of the others went to a western restaurant, and others went to nap. In the afternoon, we visited the SongXianChuanDong (I think) Ancient Craft Market Town. It was more like a large antiques market, complete with Antique prices!! I did buy a bracelet with a dragon and phoenix on it, and I managed to get him down to 40% of the original price. Alison wasn't impressed because I learn from Dad how to deal with these situations, and people, and I did a better job then her...

After that, we went to the Burial Place of Liung Bei, a former emperor of China. It was basically a large mound of earth that everyone walked around...There was a beautiful Bonsai tree garden there though, which was nice.

We also visited a temple (I forget which one), and it was as decorated and attractive as every other temple. This one was a Daoist Temple. I've not yet worked out the difference, the Daoist temples still have statues of Buddha in various positions.

It is rare that I take pictures in temples, I don't like doing it, it just feels wrong somehow.

Chengdu was an interesting trip from start to finish, We went there on the bus, which took 3 hours, and then we came back by train, which took 4 hours. This seems odd...in the UK, a bus is never faster than a train, but here, it is the other way round, the train stops at each station for about 15 minutes, if not longer and then seems to randomly stop between stations for 10-30 minutes at a time. The train is definitely an experience that an traveller should have! It was like a travelling buffet! We got on the train, and we had tickets for seats, so we got to our seats t find that a family was sitting there. We turfed them out and got comfortable. I got my book out, MP3 player in, and I was set to go. The family shuffled over and sat on 3 seats (about 8 of them...) and then proceeded to unpack...i am sure that for the whole 4 hours journey, they didn't stop eating!! we had some snacks, but they had instant noodles, and sunflower seeds, and peanuts and cakes...

Eventually, we got back to Hechuan, and I went to bed. I'd managed to pick up a nice cold! I stayed in bed for 2 days, and had 4 people tell me that I should go to the doctor and get medicine...they have the belief here that if you have a cold for 3 days, you need to go to hospital to get a drip fitted. I don't know what's in the drip, and I didn't want to find out either...i stayed in bed and drank whisky and felt a lot better!

After the National Day holiday, it was back to work as normal. I teach 7 classes a week, some of them are 2 hours, some are 3 hours. Each period is 40 minutes long, and then there is a 10 minute break, and then the next period starts. My speaking classes are 2 periods long, and the listening ones are 3 periods long.

Last weekend, we went to Chongqing City. We stayed at Tina's Hostel again. I met a girl called Margot there, she's Dutch and works on cruise ships. We went out for the evening and went to The Outside Bar again, where I met up with people from CQExpat. It was a good evening, and we trawled a few bars.

The others went to a football match, but I had other plans: The Knitting Supplies Market. I was wool heaven!! There were hundred of different types of yarn. I think i got overcharged on one of the wools that I bought, but I bought 10 skeins (which I think means that its about 1500m), and its a thick/thin orange, pink and red yarn that I think is silk. I'm not sure because the only way to test is to burn a piece and it burns like wool (no flame, no melting), but it doesn't smell like burning wool (burning hair), so I think its silk. It cost me 200Y (£20) which is cheap in the UK, but I think it was expensive here. I got some other skeins of bulky wool which cost me £1 per skein, and I think there's about 120m in each skein, so that price more than made up for the expensive wool! It was interesting shopping at the Knitting Market, but it was so difficult too!! Not speaking very much Chinese, I couldn't find out how long the skeins were, so it was all guesswork to buy the right amount!! The only length they could give me was to show me scarves knitted using one skein, and I had to guess from there. I bought some super chunky cotton yarn, and I bought twice as much as I needed for the top that I wanted to make out of it, because I guessed wrong... I do have a wool supplier in Hechuan as well now. I saw the shop a couple of weeks ago, but I couldn't work out how much the wool was, or even whether they sold wool, because although there was loads on the shelf, they kept showing me completed articles and pointing to a knitting machine at the back. Eventually, I took Sawyer with me and we worked out that I can buy wool there, but no-one seems to know the length. I did find it amusing because when I tested the yarn at home, it turns out to be pure wool, but there were telling me that its not good enough quality to make gloves out of...Again, I got about 120m/skein, but this place is only 5Y (50p) per skein. I've got lots of skeins to ball now...I've made a top (from the super chunky), and i'm waiting for my shopping buddy to get back so that I can go and get a zip and some material for it!

I never told you all about the mobile phone shopping experience!!

When I got here, I decided that it was going to be easier to get a Chinese mobile phone rather than get mine unlocked and start playing with sim cards. So, Sawyer took me to the mobile phone shop and it was an experience!! I chose the phone I wanted ( a very girl Hello Kitty phone in purple...) and then we registered it to Sawyer's ID card (they couldn't use my passport because i'm not a Chinese national). Then, we paid for it, and had a choice of free gifts....washing powder or a tea flask...the most random things to go with a mobile! I went for the tea flask because I wanted something to put milk in in the fridge...

Being a Celebrity!

2009-09-24T08:25:00.000+01:00

Well...its been a long week, and there's been a lot happening!

The most exciting thing is that we became Chinese TV stars, and we're saving a town!
Hmmm...

Mark, the head of English here took us to his home town, Tonkgnan for the day. He told half of us that we were going for dinner with the mayor, and the other half that we were going to see a temple. We did both...and a bit more.

We left at 9:30 in the morning and some people fell asleep in the car with their shoes on...this is a silly thing to do, it makes you fair game!

Mat asleep
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

Bad luck Mat!

Then, we went for dinner with the mayor, and what seemed like the whole council for the town. Mark's got it into his head that i don't drink now, so i was safe on coke, while the others were forced into drinking games. They were drunk by midday...

The dinner was in a small place that had the most beautiful tree in the middle of the courtyard

chongqing tree
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

Apparently this is the Tree of Chongqing and is over 300 years old. It is beautiful and has lots of twisted roots spiralling up the trunk.

After lunch, we had a look around Tonkgnan

tonkgnan st
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

old buildings
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

tonkgnan street
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

After the tour around Tonkgnan, in which i had to walk around holding the hands of the mayoress and another top ranking woman...(the chinese girls really like holding hands or linking arms...), we were taken to Mark's Middle School. We were told it was to speak to the headmaster, and to meet some of the teachers and children...UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR!!

We went to a short meeting where they told us the history of the school and a bit about it, then we went to 'meet some children'...I went to the toilet and then the mayoress walked me down a small road bit to meet the children. Mat and Carolina had already arrived there. As I turned the corner, there was a massive cheer and round of applause...and a podium covered with red material, with big seats for us to sit in...and microphones...and this greeted me:

children - front
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

oh yes...what seemed like thousands of children, all sat in neat lines...they all cheered and applauded as i sat down, waiting for Alison and Pete to arrive...
Then...i looked behind me and saw:

children - balconies
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

There were hundreds of them..all hanging off the balconies to see us. I waved and got a massive round of applause and cheering from the balconies too.

It was absolute madness, especially as we were followed around the streets and through the schools by a TV camera - we had become celebrities.

There was a speech from Mark to the children about learning English and how useful it was, and the best ways to practice, then it was over to us, so we gave short introductions and then Mark took over again.

After about an hour of Mark talking, he got up and left and we were mobbed...literally mobbed by children wanting autographs! They were coming from all angles giving us books, pieces of paper and body parts to sign! I was being hit in the back of the head by books, squashed by children and getting them shoved under my nose as well. Poor Mat was on the end of the table, so he had them coming from 3 sides! In the end, it looked like they were going to kill him, so being the tallest and most outspoken i stood up and motioned for the children to move back. They got the idea and then a teacher came over to move them back and things were a little better.

Being mobbed by a school of children wanting autographs, whilst being videoed for TV has to be one of the most surreal experiences i've ever had, and i have the feeling that China has a few more ready for me...

So, after the madness of the school, we finally got to go to the temple. It is the Temple of the Golden Buddha. Sadly, the day we went, the Buddha wasn't quite so golden - he's being re-gilded.

The Golden Buddha
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

The temple was gorgeous, so attractive. I seriously contemplated giving up being a hedgewitch and becoming a buddhist!

the surrounding scenery:

Pagoda at Tonkgnan
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

Dog Statue
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

Statues at Tonkgnan Temple
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

We saw the largest Chinese symbol in the world - it says Buddha

buddha symbol
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

and the Man and Lady of the temple - these are natural formations caused by erosion and water, an excellent example of simulacra that is so appropriate - the man is on the left, the lady on the right. The man looks very typically Chinese. It couldn't be better!

The man and lady of the temple
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

We went to the Singing Steps - they're supposed to make a different sound on each 7th step. I stamped as hard as i could, but really didn't hear anything...

From the bottom:

The singing steps from the bottom
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

from the top:

The singing steps from the top
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

and the statues around were beautiful. I love Chinese art, especially the stone carvings.

Dragons
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

tiger
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

After all that, a bit of R&R was in order, so we got taken to a karaoke bar, where the owner not only fed us copious amounts of popcorn, but gave us packets to take away too!

I asked Phoenix to write my favourite foods in chinese, so i'm sorted for ordering food now:
Potato pancake
tomato and Egg thing
Sweet pork (i know i know...but they don't do chicken. I have been suffering...).

Now i'm busy trying to arrange for us to go on the Yangtze cruise for National Day. We can either get the cruise from here to Yichang, or we can go upstream (i'd prefer that) by flying to Yichang first and then catching the boat first.

I've found lots of tours that i want to go on as well, including a Kung Fu tour (anything to get back to the Shaolin temples!), and some classic tours. There's one going to Tibet - you can only go to Tibet on a group visa, and i would prefer to go on an organised tour rather then getting a group visa for us and then going just us... Another tour goes to the grasslands of Mongolia...and we get to meet local farmers and talk and eat with them. I want to do that one, but to do it on my own is twice the price of managing to convince everyone else to go as well...we'll see...

An Update

2009-09-14T14:24:00.001+01:00

Well, its been a busy week here in China!

Firstly, we went out for dinner with Mark (The Head of English), and what seemed like half the local police force! There was good food

Food!
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

there was good company
there were many drinking games played

The drinking games were interesting, they were based on Rock, Paper, Scissors. Then, there was the added element of numbers – you had to uncover a number of fingers with your partner, and it could either be 0, 5, 10, 15 or 20. The one who guessed the total number of fingers for both partners won, and the loser had to drink.

I didn't play the drinking games – it was all based on shots of lager, and I really don't like lager!
I think i'm becoming something of an outcast I the group – i'm older than the rest of them, and I don't drink to get drunk, so I think that i'm not within the group dynamic. They have a big 'team' or 'family' thing going on, they're all very pally pally, and I don't feel that close to any of them really.

Ho Hum.

So, this weekend, we took a trip to Chongqing City Centre

Over the Bridge
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

Chongqing Street
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

Highrise
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

We stayed at a place called Tina's Hostel. It was great, really clean, really nice.

The Hallway in Tina's Hostel
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

Tina's Hostel Walls
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

The best thing about it was that it was in the middle of what I can only describe as a typically chinese living area.

China Living
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

The surrounding views were beautiful.

Chongqing Views
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

We went out on Saturday night to The Outside Bar, which was great. I really loved the Outdoor Bar, it was so relaxed and easy going. I also met some people from CQExpat, which has been my aim for the past week!

CQExpat Crew
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

I met Cherry and Rob, and they were really lovely. Cherry is fantastic, such an energetic, sweet girl.

Cherry and Helena
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

Rob's a great Canadian, and we were talking about schools, and teaching, and what seemed like everything else under the sun. At about half one, I joined the rest of te group at The Cotton Club. There was a rock covers band playing, and I sat down at the table, only to be nearly bowled over by a drunken Mat, who, it appears had missed me...

Later that night, Mat and Lilly disappeared, so we went back to the hostel without them. I think was the point that I realised how different the maturity levels are between us, I couldn't sleep knowing that two of our number were out in CQ all alone, in a big city in the middle of China – an unknown land!! I stayed up until about 6 that night – Mat and Lilly came back at about half 4, and then I spent the rest of the time keeping Mat alive. He stumbled into the room and took 4 attempts to take his trousers off, and then went to purge the alcohol (how polite was that?!). He was looking pretty rough, so I kept filling him with water in an attempt to dilute the alcohol in his system. I have told him that next time, i'll leave him to die...One chance...

Mat Suffers
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

So, on Sunday, we went to the CQExpat CAFE (Chinese and Foreign Exchange) Club. It was great to meet so many people that I have been 'talking' to online for so long. I did forget to take musicman his mustard though! I'll keep it for next time.

Phoenix came to the CAFE club with me, and she had a great time too, despite suffering a hagover from hell! She made sure that I got home safely, she took me on the bus from CQ to Hechuan, and then we got a local bus from Hechuan bus station to the College. The local bus was a fantastic experience, and i'm going to ask Phoenix to write 'To Chongqing', 'To Hechuan', and 'To Hili' on a piece of paper in Mandarin so that I can travel on my own soon. That's exciting!
I think I got bitten by something a bit nasty on Thursday night, I had an itchy foot on Friday and I thought i'd been got by another mosquito and ignored it. Saturday it started to swell and itch, and by the time I got home yesterday my foot was swollen and bright red and itchy. I've had something for infection, and double dosed the antihistamines and it appears to be working. The rash has travelled up my leg a bit, and my foot and ankle are still swollen, but its like a nasty attack of Urticaria (another one...), so i'm not really sure what's going on! It appears to be getting better – my foot's gone back to flesh colour today. When I see Susan again, i'll ask her whether she thinks I should see a doctor.

Went back to teaching today. I love my Monday Morning class, they are really interactive, they speak to me, and they get my sense of humour, which is nice. The class today was working from the workbook, and the subjects were starting a conversation, introducing yourself, introducing another and interrupting a conversation. The students in the first class were really into the subjects and really responded. We went through the words Compliment and Offensive in relation to speaking to other people. The second class are a different kettle of fish! They are really quiet. I have two rules I my classroom, the first is that No-one is shy, and the second is that No-one laughs at English. The rules seem to work, the chinese students are known as being shy, so i'm hoping that these two rules will give them the confidence to speak up more. The first class have grasped this concept. There are a few in the second class who have understood, and they are willing to speak up, but the majority are very quiet. I gave them some exercises to do and went round the class talking to each couple and explaining things to them.

I meet my third class tomorrow. The class was cancelled last week because it was too hot.

It was lovely this morning! It had rained overnight, so the temperature has cooled and the humidity has lifted somewhat, which makes everything a lot more comfortable!

So, that's the update finished...more soon!

Ooh...while I think about it – if you're reading this and clicking on what looks like a link (eg [pic]), its probably that I haven't put a photo or a video in yet. To get to Blogger, I have to go though a proxy server, so i'm writing this separately and then copying and pasting while the server's working. So, if you look and think that there are links missing, then please come back later and check again, and I might have fixed it!

O the same subject, if a post is just a picture, or just a video, ignore it...i'm working on fixing things...

A Week In...

2009-09-07T18:20:00.003+01:00

Its been interesting. Saturday night we went to a western restaurant, and to a karaoke bar (where the boys did a stunning rendition of Backstreet Boys' As Long As You Love Me)

Backstreet Boys - Brit Style
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

Video link

The western restaurant had the strangest ceremony for irish coffee – they had a special stand with the coffee on it, and another one for the glass, which had a gas burner underneath. The whisky (Johnnie Walker Red) was poured into the glass with a lump of sugar, this was then heated by the gas burner, while the glass was spun in the stand, until the sugar melted. After that, the hot whisky and sugar were poured into the cup, and the coffee poured on top. Then cream was piped on the top of the cup, and it was all sprinkled with hundreds and thousands! I've had Irish coffee in a few places, but this is the first with hundreds and thousands! As Irish coffee goes, it was not good, but the sprinkles made up for it.

The Irish Coffee Ceremony
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

The convoluted ceremony for irish coffee. Watch for the flames!

After the karaoke bar, we went to a nightclub, where there were people performing. We are not sure whether they were regular clubbers doing a turn on the podium, or whether they were paid performers. Must remember next time we go out to take toilet paper with me, I was desperate to go in the club, but there is no toilet paper in the cubicles, so I couldn't.

Felt a bit rough on Sunday, i'd eaten something that didn't agree with my digestive system at all. I felt rather sick all day. Went for dinner Sunday night and had some gorgeous chicken dish that was a bit like a dry curry, and some rice and some spinach and tofu soup. Lilly seems obsessed with vitamin and protein counts though – I could get bored with that quite quickly. I did tell her today that I didn't care how much carbohydrate was in a drink...

Last night wasn't a good night's sleep. I eventually got to sleep about half midnight, after my digestive system had purged itself completely. Feel much better today.

Today was the first teaching day, and it was successful. I started with an introduction about myself, with pictures, I told them my name, my parents' names and about my pets. The students liked the picture of Finlay and there was a lot of 'aaah's coming from around the room. I had two classes, one starting at 8:45 and finishing at 10:15, and then another starting at 2:30 and ending at 4:00. The 8:45 class had a better grasp of English, but there were a couple of students in the later class who were really good. The first class were worried that I wasn't married...one of them asked my age, and then another asked whether I had a boyfriend. When I said that I didn't, they then asked whether I was worried that I wouldn't get married...

I'm beginning to get the hang of things here. I'm not eating a huge amount, I think this is because it is so hot that I have no appetite. Being unwell yesterday didn't help as my systems still feels a bit delicate. I am drinking a huge amount of soft drinks. We have water in the apartment, but it is so bitter that I am buying coke and orange juice a lot. I had an ice lolly today, which was absolute heaven!

The National Day is on the 1st October, so we are going to get 8 days off. Phoenix (one of the students) has offered to take us to Chengdu for the week. I am really interested in going, there are some lovely looking places there. We're going to Chongqing city at the weekend, so hopefully, i'll be able to meet up wih some people from Cqexpat. That'll be good, i'm looking forward to it very much. I've been told there's also some good shoe shopping to be done there too...and my flip flops did break..

My internet connection is erratic again. It was connected, and now it has decided to not connect for some reason. Not sure why, I think i'll get Sawyer to come and have a look at it for me and try to fix it. It is connected to the internet, but then won't go any further. Not sure why this is, as my firewall is off at the moment, so I can't be that. I had to turn the firewall off because it was stopping the proxy software working. Dammit.
Ok...so the internet connection didn't work because...some idiot unplugged the router to plug in her hair straighteners...i have dead straight hair...

China: First impressions

2009-09-04T09:55:00.002+01:00

(written on 1st Sept)

Well, my first impressions this time are very similar to last time – the people are wonderful. There is nothing that they will not do for you. I only had to think about what I wanted at Hong Kong Airport, and someone appeared to show me the way.

The plane journeys were long. London to Hong Kong was 10hrs. That one went by quite quickly – I watched a few films, a but of comedy and played a few computer games.
The wait at Hong Kong was made bearable by the people that I talked to, and the coffee shop with free internet access...Hong Kong to Chongqing was a short flight, and I tried to sleep for most of it. However, every time I started to drift of properly, the air hostess came over and started asking questions 'you want pillow?' 'you want newspaper?'. Then lunch was served, and then it seemed to be time to land.

Travelling alone is always a bit worrying for me. I get a bit paranoid that a single female traveller looks suspicious. I got stopped at Hong Kong and they asked to see my make up bag (apparently something in there looked like an arrow head), and to see my first aid kit (they picked up tablets on the X-ray), but thankfully, once they had had a good look, they were quite happy that I wasn't planning to killing anyone and I was let on my way with smiles.

Coming in to Chongqing
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy

Coming in to Chongqing was interesting. Susan was late, having been stuck behind a truck on fire, so was a bit stranded for 20 minutes...and a bit worried that maybe I had told her the wrong date, or the wrong time or something. Went outside to smell China, and she pulled up and yelled 'Fiona' out of the window at me. We packed my bags into the car and started driving for the 50 minute drive to the college. Wish i'd known beforehand that it was 50 minutes. I needed to go to the toilet as we started to descend to land...

Susan and I spent the journey talking and laughing and making plans. She wants me to teach her English (she speaks more English than I do Mandarin...), she wants to refine her English and learn to pronounce some of the harder sounds better. She said that she has troube wth my name because of the 'n' in it, she has a tendency to call me Fiola to get round the problem. I told her that Fee would be fine. She also wants to cook for us, and to take me shopping. She loves shopping! We talked about our families. Surprisingly, for a Chinese family, there are 4 children. She explained that her parents are both teachers and they love children, so paying for the 3 extra wasn't a problem for them.

We arrived in the college and went straight to the flat. I'm in quarantine with the other two British teachers that have arrived for 5 days. We have to be in quarantine in case we have swine flu. This will mean 5 days in the flat. We might be able to go out in th evening when there are not so many people around, but we are not allowed to have free reign yet. Every day we have to take our temperature and report the findings. I'm not sure that I want to know what happens if our temperatures are high...

The flat's ok. If you ever think of coming here, don't expect a palace! The walls need repainting, and furniture needs cushions (and so does the bed...i'll come to that later), and there are cockroaches the size of my thumb! I don't have a problem with insects, or spiders, but these cockroaches are mean! They start scuttling towards you, like they're going to attack! I killed the biggest one last night, and when I get some cleaning stuff, i'll get rid of the body, but at the moment, its there as a warning to the other one that's hiding in the bathroom.

The flat has 2 bedrooms, a larger one wit a window shelf (mine) and a smaller one (apparently, i'll be living with an Irish girl). It has a living room that has a wooden sofa (that looks like it folds out to be a bed...but there are no cushions), some wooden chairs, a TV, a fridge, a table and an air conditioning unit in it. It has the decorations left by the previous tenants – fairy lights and a painting of a roaring fire, as do the rooms.

My room is ok, it has a wardrobe, two cupboards, a shelf unit, a desk and a bed in it. The bed is possibly the most uncomfortable thing I have ever slept on! It is a wooden block with a thin mattress and a couple of thin quilts on top, and then a thin quilt on top of that. I think I might need to go and invest in a thicker quilt come winter time.

At the moment, it is 5am. I went to bed at about 11pm, and got woken up at 1 by my mum ringing to see if I had got here ok. I rang my parents from Hong Kong, but had no phone service here...until 1am it seems. I was then woken again at 3 by a friend from home sending me a text... I woke up at 4 on my own, convinced it was about 10am. I wish it was. I'm writing this now because i'm too awake to sleep. This is quite ridiculous, I did 30 hours on an hours sleep. I should be fast asleep now! I think the bed hasn't helped. My hips hurt and feel bruised, and the stress and sweat of yesterday has given me a nice attack of Urticaria too, so I have a swollen itchy hand, and itchy patches on my hips and thighs. I've had some anti histamines, so hopefully, it should go down soon. I want to have a shower, but the big cockroach's brother is hiding in there somewhere. I might have to get the boys to come in on a roach hunt!

I also want to clean. It is not very clean. I understand that CQ is dusty because there is a lot of building work going on, but some of this is dirt that has been left by the previous tenants. Sadly, it appears that although they left us green tea (now inhabited by the cockroach's little brother and what looks like 6 different types of mould, and some spices, they didn't leave any cleaning materials, or anything to clean with.

The problem is that i'm not allowed to leave for 5 days, so i've written a list of things that are needed here. I need to add coke and orange juice to it too. There is no food and drink. We have a water bottle, but as with most of the purified water here, the water is bitter. I asked for a bottle of coke last night, but I am dependent on the college for food at the moment. Susan and Sawyer (our Chinese friends) went out last night and got food and some coathangers for me! I think I need to send them out today for stuff. I also need to get internet access soon so that I can get the thing for my boxes that are waiting for me at the airport, then I can send Susan to pick them up. I'm hoping that I don't need to pay any import duties on them because they are personal effects, but i'll give her some money just in case. I do need to go to the bank and get some cash out, I have enough to last me, but probably not that long once i've bought cleaning supplies and food and drink.

I could do with a cup of tea...but there is no kettle, and I have no milk or sugar. The quarantine thing could really get me down after a while I think.

I'll be teaching 16 classes a week, each at 45 minutes a session. The classes start at 8:45, and go through to 12, then they stop until 14:30 and carry on until 18:00. I teach 16 classes a week, and have to go to English Corner twice a week. English Corner is where the students go to practice their English, and have conversations with each other, and with the teacher. Susan says that it is boring – they ask the same questions every week. That's ok though, I can always ask questions back.

She seemed a little surprised that I have my first lesson planned already. I spoke to someone I know who I teaching in Korea and asked them what their first lessons were. She said that she talked about herself and showed pictures of where she grew up, and English money, and then she threw a paper ball around the class and started with 'My name is...and my favourite colour is...'. I plan to do the same. It will be a good class for me to get to know the students a bit, and I think they will be interested in pictures of England, and things like my house, and my school, and the surroudning areas.

I really wish I could either shower or sleep now...I'm lucky because I took precautions and haven't been bitten by mosquitoes yet. I also spent about half an hour before I went to bed killing all the ones that I could see in the room...I've added an electric mosquito repellent to the list of stuff that I need. I have insect repellents for my skin, but I want one for the flat. I slept in a long sleeve teeshirt and pyjama bottoms – I'm sure that long arms and long trousers are what you need to stop the bugs getting at your bare skin. I also covered my feet in insect repellent (for some reason, whenever I get bitten, its always on the feet. Not the legs or the back like everyone else...nope, the feet!).

I don't know what time Susan and Sawyer are coming back today. I hope its fairly early so that I can ask them to get my boxes, and the stuff that I need. Then the quarantine won't be so bad, i've got lots of books in my boxes and cleaning should take a day or so to do.

So...just got a knock on the door from one of the lads. Apparently it is not 6am as i'd thought, it is in fact 6pm! That means that I slept for well over 12 hours! Excellent. I'm not surprised that i've got a headache now though...i haven't had anything to drink because i've been sleeping. It also explains the urticaria – it always happens if my kidneys are not happy, so the dehydration has caused it. This is good to know, it means that i'm not allergic to something in my surroundings.

I can also forgive my back and hips for hurting as well, knowing that i've slept for well over 12 hours!

My flat has been invaded by Susan and Sawyer who are doing traditional chinese cooking for Mat's birthday. She's making Beijing Duck and Dumplings. I did think that this was rather strange for breakfast...

Looks like my boxes probably won't be got until tomorrow now though. I really need them – I only have one clean pair of trousers and I want my comfy jeans that are in the box!

Goodbyes

2009-08-28T01:13:00.002+01:00

This has been a week fo goodbyes. I said goodbye to V on Monday. It was quite emotional...but no tears yet, then on Tuesday, it was L, again, no tears. Yesterday it was Loopy, and still no tears, and then today it was JB.

Its a bit odd, i keep saying to these people 'byeee...see you soon' as if i'll be seeing them next week, or next month...not at least a year down the line!

I go on Sunday at 12:30...then i arrive in CQ at 16:05 local time - its going to be one hell of a jetlag to get over!! 22 and a half hours travelling to get there!!

I'm all packed. I sent my boxes over on monday, so they should be there anyday soon, and i've packed my hold luggage. Just got to wait until the very last minute to finish packing my cabin luggage (because i have to add my hard drive to the case).

Did you know that you can only take 20kg on the plane? What a stupid limit!! The US has a limit of 22kg a bag - 2bag maximum - so double what we have. That's because Europe has signed the IATA agreement to cut down on emissions...apparently. Personally, because of my previous job, i think its so that they can sell more space to courier companies. My boxes are probably going on the same plane as i am, but it was cheaper to send them by courier than pay excess baggage...

Ho Hum...Maybe it will kick in soon that i am going 3000 miles away...for a long time, and its not just round the corner, and unless people decide to have a holiday in the far east, i won't be seeing them for a very long time. It hasn't kicked in yet. I still have this weird feeling of denial...like something's going to happen so that i don't go. As long as i don't get swine flu by Sunday/Monday, all should be fine!

Final Farewells

2009-08-19T17:55:00.002+01:00

A lot of people don't seem to realise that i am leaving for some time!
I've just come back from being in York for the weekend. It was really enjoyable, except for the fact that i'm finding that people don't realise...i aksed a few people out for drinks and got answers like 'i can't at the moment', or 'are you about next week?'. Now, i live 200 miles away - its very rare that i'm ever in York for more than a weekend.

As soon as i informed these people that i was going away for a long time, they wwere free, but that's not the point - the point is that its a rarity that i get to travel that far for a few days, mainly to see people...and then they can't be bothered!

Maybe one day i'll have some friends who actually do bother, and who are keen to see me. Who knows?!

Things

2009-07-19T21:41:00.004+01:00

So...what would you pack for 9 months (minimum) halfway across the world?

I'm sending over either one box, or a few boxes before i get there. I'm planning to pack books and trousers mainly in those.

But what else? I've been thinking about the things that i use all day every day, but the problem is that a lot of things will run out - what can i do without?

I think i need to buy a new tube of toothpaste, and take a new head for my electrical toothbrush, i'll need to get a new pot of facial cleanser, but that will run out...and its Lush, there are no Lushes in China!! The other thing is that my daily cleansing routine is great for the british climate...but CQ is hot and humid in the summer and cold and wet in the winter, so will it still be ok then? What about hair dye? There's only a certain amount of space in my luggage...where am i going to fit 3 pots of purple dye, a pot of bleach and a pot of black? To be fair, i can probably get my hair dyed and bleached there...

Things like towels - i use a towelling robe instead of a bath towel...how will i fit it in the bag?

Then we have the perfume problam...i am a perfumista...what if i run out? However...i have already checked the shipping rates of my favourite perfumier to China, and its quite reasonable!!

How much clothing do i pack? I'll be living there, so i can wash and dry things as i need to, but how many sets of underwear? How many pairs of trousers? How many tops? Bear in mind i need to go through a hot hot summer and a cold cold winter...

Coats: I have 3 coats that i wear regularly, a long pleather coat that is great for spring and autumn, a mid length cotton coat that's warm in winter, and a leather biker jacket. I plan to wear the biker jacket to travel...its bloody heavy to carry! Where am i going to fit the other two?

Shoes: I wear DMs, sandals or New Rocks most of the time. I also live in hiking trainers. Where am i going to fit them all? I think i'll send the boots over in the box..

Argh...its all so much of a headfuck, what do i need on a yearly basis? What do i not?

Getting Closer

2009-07-15T13:50:00.002+01:00

Its all getting closer.

I looked on my calendar at work yesterday and realised that i have 16 more days at work left. This doesn't include the holiday i've booked. 16 more days...

That's not a lot!

I've been putting in steps to replace myself as well. We're holding elections for the new ECF (Employee Consultative Forum) rep for our area. This is quite amusing. It always amazes me how many people aren't prepared to stand up for anything. There are people who will complain about 'the way it is', or 'the ways its done', but they won't do anything about it! There;s a third of the workgroup that work different hours to me. They're the ones that always have something to say, they always have an issue to be brought up at the ECF. Yet...it comes to voting for a new rep and they dont' bother!! Why is that? No doubt they'll grumble at who is voted in, and then they'll complain a lot to and about them...but they do nothing to change it!

16 working days...

Getting closer

2009-07-11T22:11:00.003+01:00

The date is getting closer. I've handed in my notice at work, so its all official.

In a strange way, its odd, it feel all quite surreal. I don't really think i'm going! I think i'll have a bit of a shock when i get on the plane...and even more of a shock after a few weeks when i realise that i am in China...for a long time...for real. I keep thinking about making plans for things that are going on here in September, and things like booking a camping spot for Soltice next year...but i won't be here for them.

Anyway...i'm doing a bit of experimenting on here before i get there, so here's a est picture:

Reflections

2009-06-27T13:23:00.001+01:00

I'd forgotten, til I started writing this blog, how much I enjoy writing. I've never been one for penning songs or poetry I just like pouring my feelings out to an unresponsive medium, one that won't answer back, or try to hug me or do any of the things that the nearest human tries to do.

I'm not a physical person. I don't like possessiveness, or overt displays of affection. I don't really do hugging people unless i'm saying goodbye to them, or they need it. Not me. I don't like being hugged unless there's a good reason for it. Me being upset is not a good reason.

I realise, as I write this that there's no-one who reads it! That's right, I'm writing a blog...my own secret blog that no-one else reads. Its me writing to myself. I used to do that when I was younger – go through the right books on my shelves and you'll find little notes written about how i'm feeling that day. They were usually written in a fit of pique and allowed me to pour out my feelings without someone looking at me in a sympathetic way, or trying o come up with solutions to my problems. Most of my problems have always been emotional. I'm a level optimist. I believe that the glass is always half full, in fact, its always brimming over if you know where to look.

The problem with being an optimist is that when things go wrong for you, you sweep violently the other way. You become the most cynical person, the glass will never even think of being filled ever again. Then...you do something about it.

The other problem I have is that I never tell someone how I feel, or what I think until its too late. If it did these things earlier, i'd have a lot less trouble. Maybe I try to protect myself by not telling people these things...avoiding rejection if you like, or maybe I just don't actually realise that I feel this way until its too late.

My Passport arrived today...4 days earlier than expected. This is good. I've scanned in the back page, and my degree certificate (yes, imaginary readers, I do have a degree), and a passport photo of myself and i've emailed them to Prof. Thomas who is running the China Programme. I've also posted these copies, and my application form, and my cheque to him. China gets ever closer.

Maybe that's why i'm being so reflective at the moment. I don't have time to dwell on the past, so i'm dwelling on myself and the future. I'm leaving all that is safe and comfortable for a life of the unknown. I can't wait!

At the moment, i'm on a train on my way to York. I love travelling, especially on my own. I don't have anyone to make plans for me, or tell me that they want to do something that I don't. I can sit on the train and read, or knit, or write without someone trying to make futile conversation with me while I nod and smile politely, secretly wanting them to shut up and leave me in peace.

One day...when I have readers, I want them to comment lots. I'll always be fairly solitary, but I want comments, I want people to let me know whether i'm odd, or normal. Do they have the same feelings towards other human beings (it is only humans...i can spend hours in the company of animals and never resent them).

Got to go...coming into the station soon, and it'll take some time for the laptop to turn off!

Cookbook

2009-06-25T11:24:00.003+01:00

I ordered Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan a few weeks ago, and it arrived today! Yeay!

I've been reading a few other blogs, and a lot of the bakers have been going on about Tuesdays With Dorie, so i wanted to join in.

The book should be called 'Baking P0rn...pictures of cakes' The photography is wonderful, and i want to make so many of the recipes already!

Its a large book, bigger than i expected, and has hundreds of gorgeous, easy to follow recipes.

Not sure ifi'm going to be able to fulfil the rules for TWD at the moment - especially when i go to China, i understand that a lot of houses don't have ovens, but i'm going to see what i can do!

Amazon and the Jumping Credit Card

2009-06-24T18:02:00.004+01:00

Well...I've managed to spend money on Amazon today.

I was supposed to be in work...and i turned up, but apparently I's booked today off as holiday as well as yesterday and Monday.

Going to York on Friday to stay with people who love me. I'm planning to go to DV80s on Friday ngiht and then have a night in with Smurf and Bert on Saturday...so far...

So...back to Amazon - i went on to get some books about China. I need some books for travelling, and some phrasebooks and stuff. £30 later...i've got 5 books about China coming!

I've emailed the man running the programme to tell him that i will be applying this year, i just need to get my passport through the post so that i can fill in the last bits of the application. Hopefully, the passport will be here by Tuesday, which i slightly later than he wanted the application in by, but hopefully the email will have worked. I've also got to bug the people writing my references to get them to hurry up, then i can send him everything but the passport page.

Fingers crossed!! I will be updating this more regularly now. I'd forgotten how cathartic it is to blog. My Livejournal account from years ago just ended up being a place that i complained a lot in...

Ups and Downs

2009-06-24T14:24:00.002+01:00

I haven't knitted all weekend.

I'm not in the mod to be honest with you.

J and i broke up on Sunday. I'm pretty much devastated, and as i'm sure he doesn't read this, its safe to carry on here.

He slept with his ex on Friday. It was a one-off, they were both drunk (or high). She did it to get back at her current boyfriend. Is it just me, or are some women sick? Its ok for her, her relationship didn't break. Mine did. The man i was with decided that if he was going to do it once, he still loved her and that he didn't want to be in a relationship with anyone. That includes me.

I don't get it...i would never sleep with someone who was with someone else...not in a million years unless i was sure that we were going to end up together. She doesn't want him, yet she still did it. There was a lot of 'i know which buttons to press' going on, and probably a bit of 'nice to know i still can' a bit of an ego boost.

I know that he's not innocent, and that he shouldn't have done it, but i can forgive him. I knew when we staarted the relationship that he still had feelings for her, and that he was probably very high at the time. Therefore, i can forgive him because he's been fucked over and used by her.

I hate people. I hate other people. Why can't people just have decent morals? Do i have 'Use me for a rebound and the fuck someone else' tattooed on my forehead?

Knitting on the Move

2009-06-14T17:21:00.002+01:00

The I Knit Londond treasure hunt was yesterday.

And i joined in...and i roped in a bloke from Work (Paul) too!

The basic rules are that each team must have a knitter, we must find 10 sheep in London...and take photos at strategic locations!

We found 9 sheep, and took photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_fee_fairy/3624353021/

Thanks I Knit for a great day!

The Sewing Machine Meme

2009-06-02T02:04:00.002+01:00

The sewing machine meme is from the Sew Mama Sew blog.

I love SMS! Its got so many handy bits to it, and they do some fantastic tutes and reviews.

What brand and model do you have?

I have 3 machines - a 1953 Singer, a 1954 Singer and a 1910 Vesta

How long have you had it?

I've had the Vesta for many years, but i'm going to move it on to someone else because it only works for a week or so after servicing.

I've had the 1954 Singer for about 6 months i think. Its beautiful!

I've had the 1953 Singer a bit longer.

How much does that machine cost (approximately)?

The Vesta cost me £10 at an auction, and then £30 for a service.

The 1954 Singer was free - i had to pick it up. It hasn't been serviced yet, i'm hoping to learn to do it myself, Its an electric/treadle and too big and heavy to cart about.

The 1953 Singer was also free, and it cost me £75 for servicing!! Not taking it there again!

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)?

Whatever i'm in the mood for that day...

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get?

I;ve not sewn a lot with any of them yet - the vesta breaks down regularly, the treadle/electric needs servicing before i use it, and the 1953 i just haven't had the chance to sit down with it! It did sew a denim rug at the weekend though.

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name?

I love them...all of them! My favourite at the moment is the 1953- it looks pretty and sounds wonderful!

What features does your machine have that work well for you?

The 1953 is made to be used for everything, and i love that. Its made to go through denim, and cotton and layers of stuff. Its more sturdy than a modern machine in my opinion.

THe 1954 is gorgeous, it is a treadle that has been converted so that it can be either. I need a new lead for it before i even start...

The vesta is pretty, and it is a hand-crank machine.

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine?
The vesta drives me nuts every time i try to use it!! It just won't work!

The 1953 has some gorgeous feet that i just can't get threaded properly

the 1954 needs servicing...

Do you have a great story to share about your machine (i.e., Found it under the Christmas tree? Dropped it on the kitchen floor? Sewed your fingernail to your zipper?, Got it from your Great Grandma?, etc.!)? We want to hear it!
Nope...not yet...

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why?

I'd definitely recommend getting a vintage Singer to anyone. The parts are pretty easy to get hold of, and they're made to be used to make everything - they were the housewife's best friend.

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine?

Stability, is it going to walk off the table? Ease of use, and 'Is it strong enough' - Can the motor handle what you want to sew? I love using denim and corduroy, but some of the modern machines can't take the layers, and have trouble. The older ones don't.

Do you have a dream machine?
I own my dream machine - the 1954 singer - treadle and electric. If there's a power cut right at the end of the project, its not a problem, i can just treadle my way through it!