Gratitude: The Spoilt Cat Edition

Obviously, this is being written on a Saturday rather than a Friday, to the accompaniment of ferocious purring from the spoilt, silken pawed cat who has decided to curl up on my 'work' cushion and cosy fake fur lined hoodie. Yesterday I went out for pay day wine and nachos, my first social outing since New Year's weekend, a cause for gratitude in itself.

I'm also grateful that the post viral fatigue that laid me low last weekend and at the beginning of the week seems to be easing off, and I'm glad that I was able to resist my inner workaholic and tell myself that taking a few days off from MA work was not going to lead to me failing the course.

Gratitude item number three is that I've been getting on well with my work colleagues. Although I'm not the most extroverted person (on Myer Briggs personality tests I'm always on the I/E borderline), before this autumn I always took it for granted that I tend to get on well with most people, even if I occasionally had to bite my tongue. And then I started working at the school where none of the other staff would talk to me. I know that you 'should' say that I'm indifferent to other people's opinions of me, but being isolated like that was incredibly depressing and somehow dehumanising. So I've been doubly appreciating the gossipy, giggly re-entry into work place banter, where the works of SClub7 suddenly becomes a completely viable topic of conversation.

And there's the stunning glimpses of sunrises and sunsets I've had on my walks to and from work. One sunrise was this incredible fuchsia colour bomb, just what I need to perk myself up on the chilly trek home.

My last item is probably going to mark me out as a big cat scaring meanie, but seeing Stanley (white and ginger cat) running away from the clockwork mouse he was meant to be chasing...well, how could you not laugh?

Reasons Why I'd Rather Be A Cat In Winter

Most of the time I manage to restrain my desire to post endless pictures of my cats, demanding that you all recognize how exceptionally adorable they are. But, every time I have to leave the house and venture forth into the wind and rain, I think - 'How come I didn't decide to be a cat instead?'

Cat and Mouse

He's trying to work out how to use our credit cards to order himself and Pumpkin (our other ginger feline) smoked salmon and cheddar cheese...

Faces of 798

If you’ve been reading for a while you might have realised that I’m a bit of a fan of 798, the Beijing gallery area. On my second to last Beijing weekend, I took a meandering trip around the area, searching out the hidden corners which were full of intensely graffitied walls and interesting doors and windows.

These are some of my favourites: the Lichtenstein-esque women remind me of the shock and awe and wonder that not only did I feel as a green expat, but that my Chinese friends expressed at the tumultuous history they’d lived through, their excitement about China’s rapid development, and also the hushed conversations about their secret fears and resentments.

The ginger cat made me think of my own ginger feline, but also, strangely, some of my students and their quietly defiant curiosity.

The last image was hard to capture owing to some vaguely remembered physical obstacle, so we’ll all have to make do with fragments. Why is he shooting? What is he shooting? Hands? Smoke? If they’re hands, why are they coming out of a chimney, or a gun barrel? Why is he looking away?

Even if the man refuses to acknowledge his deed, the dove is there, watching. Despite being a tiny part of the design, the watching dove seemed to me to be the metaphorical as well as the literal centre of the work. What do you think?

Dutch Tiles

I really like tiles. Well, tiles of the quality decorative sort, rather than the hideous, cheap 1980s bathroom variety. The luminous colours in these ones caught my roving eye - I was particularly impressed that this gorgeous Art Nouveau porch was still intact, unblemished and hadn't been replaced with something cheaply attempting to be 'on trend'.

And how could I resist this thoughtful looking tile cat, cleverly blocking a small street fronting window. I wonder if there was a real feline snoozing somewhere behind the facade?

Sunday Lunch in the Suburbs

Amsterdam: Sweet Moments

We called this place the Schnoozy Puss café, as that’s how a handyman (who appeared to be paid in ice cream for his endeavours) greeted one of the café’s three cats. The cats, who curled on perfectly feline sized chairs, sealed the obsession that had been seeded a few moments earlier when we had spied people sitting outside eating luscious ice creams.

The ice creams were fresh and tingly and so good that we came back twice during our stay, discovering that their fruit tarts and coffee were even better. It was unpretentious and uncontrivedly simple, and it has the atmosphere of somewhere that was a familiar, loved treat.

Visiting our other felicitous discovery was like sitting inside a cake, perhaps their strawberry sponge. Decorated with mismatched everything and large, extravagantly decorated fake cakes, it was a bit like experiencing a baker’s trip. It was quite perfect, as were the teas – you got a pot with a selection of different tea varieties – and the cakes. I had a truffle tart, and layers of chocolate sponge were sandwiched with hazelnutty buttercream, topped with a thin chocolate seal and an impressively chunky chocolate curl.

I think the sugar content affected us slightly, as we veered between giggly and hysterical, once reaching the alarming point of ‘I-think-I’m-going-to-pee-my-pants’. Or perhaps it was just something in the atmosphere of the place, staffed by laid back people who might be continuously high on sugar. The office was two desks with computers in the café, and as we scoffed we could see staff preparing drinks, cleaning up, and even licking a bowl of chocolate round (this was watched with jealousy) in the food prep area.

Paws

Going Away Party

Thursday was the very last time that I got together with all my friends in China. It had been raining on and off all day, which by the time we left the restaurant had turned into a summer downpour.

Taxis there were none, so we waded to the bar through the filthy water: when I got home I had to wash off a calf high brown tide mark. I like to think it was just mud, but given the dubiousness of the sewerage system in the Shiz…

Arriving sodden at the bar I didn’t really feel in the party mood, and probably would’ve gone home if I thought I could’ve got a taxi. Thank goodness I didn’t though, as it was one of the best nights I had in China – everyone managed to overcome the petty irritations with each other that had become more obvious as the second semester wore on.

You can’t actually see it in the photo above, but a great deal of entertainment was had by melting and burning gummy bears in the candle flames. Ah, the results of an expensive education!

It was slightly surreal to say goodbye to the people who have been my day to day companions for the last ten months, knowing that I will probably never see some of them again. But there was still excitement as we talked about the hoped for trip to Chicago I want to make next summer.

And the next morning I left the city for good on a train to Beijing.

I spotted this cat in the convenience store as we were buying some booze before dinner.

A Day in the Life

As insomnia has decided to become my companion yet again, my day started with me watching The Wire on dvd and pottering online until the 2am or so, and then lying in bed exhausted but still wide awake. When my alarm goes off I'm so tired that I hit the snooze button and unfortunately someone texts me in those 8 minutes which somehow disables my alarm. I woke up with half an hour to go before I had to be in class. Luckily I live next door to the school!

I made a cup of instant coffee for my breakfast (black, as you can’t get decent milk here) and attempt to eat one of those cups with biscuit sticks with a pot of chocolate spread. I was looking forward to chocolatey goodness, but it’s disgusting. I checked out the best before date: the 4th of April. Yummy. I don’t know why this surprised me, as the freshest bread in our supermarket is always a day out of date, and I once got food poisoning from eating an out of date yoghurt I bought from there.

On Fridays I teach my Senior 2 students, who are aged 16-20. I was doing a game with them called ‘Steal, Switch or Bust.’ It’s a spelling and sentence making game, and points are decided by drawing a card from a box. Right until the last go there’s the possibility of the winner changing, and it’s proved incredibly popular with my students with games getting very heated! I’ve even had kids volunteering to come up, which has never happened before. I think it’s the ever satisfying possibility of getting to completely screw one of the other team’s over that they find so enjoyable. Still, it’s very gratifying when I remember how timid they were at the start of the year, afraid to say anything in front of me, let alone the whole class.

My morning classes went well, and afterwards I walked to the gym, taking a shady detour through the market. People were eager to look over my shoulder and see what I was taking photos of! I’m hoping that the gym turns on some air conditioning or fans soon, as there only source of cool air otherwise are a few small windows on one wall, far from the workout machines. In 29° (roughly 90 f) weather, I feel like I’m simultaneously melting and suffocating with the heat coming off my body. But I managed to get my 8k done without turning into a gooey mass on the floor.

On the way to get pork and cucumber wonton for lunch I stop by my favourite hardware store to get a tea flask, which I’m going to attempt to use as a cafétière. (Long story!) As I’m paying, I keep hearing these little mewing sounds and realise that they’ve acquired a kitten. The little fellow is quite the crowd puller, as I practically had to elbow another customer out of the way in order to take the photo.

I did the same activity with my afternoon classes. I teach 12 classes the same thing every week, which means I have to try and choose something that I find vaguely interesting and/or entertaining, and that has scope for a little variety, as otherwise by Friday I’m so bored that I struggle not to zone out.

After class, I flaked out for a while, enjoying the Friday feeling, before going and getting some di san xian at a neighbourhood Sichuan restaurant. It’s one of my favourite Chinese dishes, a delicious mixture of potatoes, aubergines and green peppers in a tangy, sweetish sauce.

I spent the early evening writing, cleaning my apartment and getting ready to go out, before going to a downtown bbq with the other foreign teachers at my school. The food was delicious, and I probably ate more than I needed to. We were periodically accosted by some drunken Chinese men wanting to gambe (down in one) beer with us, which was ok at first but quickly got tiresome. Apart from that, it was wonderful to be sitting outside downtown again, just chilling out and chatting with a beer or two.

One of our friends turned up and told us about a new club that had opened up, and where, as is customary in the Shiz, exotic foreigners get free entry and drinks. That was more than enough to tempt us away from the bbq! Free vodka – there are some perks to living in the provinces! A great night was had by all...

O cat, where art thou?

I used to see this naughty ginger feline in the the yard of my apartment block all the time. He was normally very elusive, but went through a brief phase of refusing to leave me alone. On one occasion he even managed to sneak into my apartment, and I had to chase him out.

I haven't seen him since February now, so I suppose that either his family has moved out of the building, he got squished on the road or he's now a housecat.

Ginger cats @ Shuyuan Hostel

The Shuyuan Hostel, Xian, boasts two of the most spoilt, adored and photographed cats in China. This adorable little creamy ginger cat decided to sleep in the tourist information bookshelf, much to everyone's delight. He was more timid than his companion, but loved being stroked and generally worshipped when he was laying about in the lobby. He also seemd to enjoy prancing amongst the flowerpots in the courtyard.

This is the big fluffy boss cat, snoozing on a chair in the lobby. The weird red light is caused by the red lightshades. One of his favourite hobbies was trying to get his face into the hostel workers' bowls of noodles! Followed by doing the same sort of pathetic, I'm-in-terrible-pain wailing that one of our cats at home does, when there is nothing at all wrong.

He loved to drink water from the tap. When three of us came up from the bar and saw him waiting for someone to turn the tap on, there was almost a fight to see who would have the honour! He has the humans very well trained.

It's a great idea for a hostel to have animals that they can love and look after, as the staff obviously adore them, and so many people travelling or living abroad miss their pets terribly.

Hong Kong

Statues outside the Art Museum

I spent much of the ferry trip from Macau to Hong Kong feeling slightly apprehensive about what our accommodation would be like, as we were staying in Chungking Mansions. This is a chaotic and (in)famous building in Kowloon, full of cheap hotels, Indian restaurants, money changers and tailors. K and W had moved out of their Chungking Mansions hostel in horror at the squalor, and I was hoping we would not have to do the same.

We didn’t: there was a very good reason that the Guangdong Hostel has one of the best ratings on hostelbookers.com. Our room, although tiny, was immaculate. The floor was probably cleaner than most of the tables I eat from in Shijiazhuang. We were provided with all sorts of creature comforts, including a fridge, tv and dvd player. The proprietor, Simon, gave us with tourist maps, let us borrow his laptop for free to use the internet, helped us find our way about and, as A’s parents had to go home a day earlier than they had planned, let us change to a cheaper, smaller room for the second night.

Peace bears, Avenue of the Stars

On the way out to explore the Kowloon peninsula I purchased on of the best garlic naans I had ever had in my life. Soft, fluffy yet slightly chewy and fantastically garlicky – let’s just say I was a repeat customer for the duration of my stay.

It is free to visit museums in Hong Kong on Wednesdays, so we took the opportunity to look around the Art and Space Museums. The Art Museum had a variety of very interesting and well curated exhibitions. My favourite was ‘The Art of Ding Yangyong’. I especially liked his cat pictures, which were playful, captured the cat-ness of cats very well, and never lapsed into sentimentality. I also enjoyed ‘Looking for Antonio Mak’, which had a thought provoking section of contemporary artists on this theme, and ‘The Story of the Horse’, which contained some beautiful antique scroll paintings.

Painting in painting, Ding Yangyong

The Space Museum was disappointing: it was shabby, many of the interactive exhibits were broken and there were huge queues to use any of the apparatus, so we didn’t spend very long there before walking down the Avenue of Stars. This affords stunning views over to Hong Kong Island, and I particularly liked watching the intriguing array of boats that went past. It is also home to a statue of Bruce Lee. There was a large crowd seething around the statue, most of them in the process of snapping pictures of themselves with Brucie.

Bruce Lee statue

I found Maltesers, which are totally unavailable in mainland China, and joyously bought two bags. The first one I devoured as if I hadn’t eaten for several hours, the second I had for breakfast the next day.

On our way down to the waterfront we had spotted an Irish bar, and we decided to pay a visit at happy hour. It was probably the strangest Irish bar I’ve ever been in. The Oirish memorabilia was overwhelming – I have never seen so many Guinness toucans in one place, although I did manage to find my surname on a map of Irish names. The traditional wooden bar divisions were decorated with Chinese New Year decorations, and the remarkably sullen staff waited on tables. We met a crazy Pakistani businessman, who was a complete bs merchant, but who very obliging bought us a drinks whilst he spun his yarns.

Good Morning II 1993, Antonio Mak

We wanted to sample some Cantonese food, and asked Simon about where would be good to eat. He offered to guide us to his favourite restaurant. We exited the back of Chungking Mansions, and in a trice had gone from the Westernised, modern clamour of Nathan Road to dank, dark back alleys, running with water whose origin I preferred not to speculate upon, filled with Indian and African men chatting and smoking, and men of various ethnicities pushing huge carts through the narrow passageways.

At the restaurant Simon procured us some English language menus. As we perused them I experienced a terrible fear that Simon would stay to eat with us, obliging us from politeness to try and force down the restaurant’s fare. It seemed to specialise in serving tendons of various different animals: in soup, braised, fried, and the place itself had a less than savoury air. Fortunately Simon had to go back to check in another guest, so we waiting for a few minutes and made our way to a Spaghetti House, where we happily chowed down on some delicious pasta.

Victoria Peak tram

After dinner we took the subway over to Hong Kong Island, rode the Victoria Peak Tram and observed the city at night, whilst trying not to get elbowed by some of the obnoxious mainland Chinese tourists. Very annoyingly my camera is rubbish at night shots, so I have a series of gloomy and blurry snaps to show for my diligence in fighting my way to the best photography spots.