Blog 4Hello all who are still with me.
In a break from what has seemed the norm so far, the sun came out in Chongqing, or at least the mist and pollution was thin enough that we could actually see more than 200 metres. To prove this, you can see this fabulous picture of the Jialing river taken from the back stairs of the hotel. Look at all the buildings and construction of glorious new bridges! According to internet records, there are between 4.1 million and 31.2 million people in the city. Quite a disparity, I agree, but the figures none the less. There certainly seem to be quite a few people here.
In Chongqing news, I learnt last night that it is similar to Manchester, as both cities are always shrouded in mist and a big fog (or "frog" as my Chinese guide suggested - do allow yourselves a moment to imagine this curious state of affairs as it conjures up some really quite interesting images). Having been to Manchester several times, some of them extended, I couldn't help think that this person had ever been to the England's north-western capital. However, it is a curious thing that so many non-Brits have this unshakable belief that British cities are forever in dense pea-soup, even though their experience living in the self same city should have told them otherwise. Now I know people died in the 40s and 50s as a result of heavy pollution, but that was pollution and not fog. And the pollution has now gone. Where is this nonsense coming from? Are the streets of London still paved with gold? No, the bastards dug that all up long before I got there.
Anyway, back to business. The British Council delegation ("All hail the BC!") came to visit the
training programme yesterday. In their troop, there were four directors of various things from countries to worldwide training initiatives. To add to the excitement, there was also the noble form of IH's own Director of Studies (Special Programmes), Conrad Hayes, thrown into the bubbling pot of VIPs. What with visiting trainers from afar (the group I'm with) and all these directors, the local Education Bureau (EB) were quite beside themselves with showing us all a good time. Sadly, our ideas of a 'good time' might not have shared as much as we'd all hoped. Starting at lunch, the directors were shown into a private dining room at the training college. As fate would have it, I was swept along in the vacuumous wake that was the delegation. The diner was something of a "light lunch banquet". How light it was can be seen in the picture. This was only about 1/2 of the food that was to come out.
training programme yesterday. In their troop, there were four directors of various things from countries to worldwide training initiatives. To add to the excitement, there was also the noble form of IH's own Director of Studies (Special Programmes), Conrad Hayes, thrown into the bubbling pot of VIPs. What with visiting trainers from afar (the group I'm with) and all these directors, the local Education Bureau (EB) were quite beside themselves with showing us all a good time. Sadly, our ideas of a 'good time' might not have shared as much as we'd all hoped. Starting at lunch, the directors were shown into a private dining room at the training college. As fate would have it, I was swept along in the vacuumous wake that was the delegation. The diner was something of a "light lunch banquet". How light it was can be seen in the picture. This was only about 1/2 of the food that was to come out. The highlight of the meal was the turtle. Never had turtle before. Don't think I will again. When it came in on it's plate, it was difficult to see what it was as its shell was in a deep ox-tail-like sauce and we thought its round-ish shell was just a large mushroom (and then possibly one of the few items the three vegetarians that were there could've eaten). It wasn't until I tapped the 'mushroom' that we discovered it was a shell and therefore a turtle. Closer inspection and the little claws / paws / clawed fins (?) were a definite giveaway. All was going well with it until Conrad accidentally picked up a claw and was about to eat it. Not a squeamish person by any measure, he had to hide it under a spoon to prevent himself feeling ill. But my heart went out to a director of BC Sri Lanka who is both vegetarian and has a pet turtle back home. She left shortly after its arrival. I did take a picture, but it's difficult to make out the shell in the think sauce. Overall, a bit like ox-tail, but not, and rather more bony than I prefer my meat to be.
If only it stopped there. A formal, full evening banquet was planned. 
Nick, an old hand at these things, remarked that the meal was "one of the more challenging" he'd had to deal with. The picture doesn't really do the live fish and multiple types of intestine justice - and there were multiple types of intestine (chicken, sheep, pig and cow - all the bases covered, there). While no turtle, there was a curious deep red meat which we were told was chicken (red?) and had the consistency of something-like squid but not. I didn't believe it was chicken for an instant. While I have commented in the past that I have the stomach of an ox, I must profess to never thinking that I would actually eat one.
Nick, an old hand at these things, remarked that the meal was "one of the more challenging" he'd had to deal with. The picture doesn't really do the live fish and multiple types of intestine justice - and there were multiple types of intestine (chicken, sheep, pig and cow - all the bases covered, there). While no turtle, there was a curious deep red meat which we were told was chicken (red?) and had the consistency of something-like squid but not. I didn't believe it was chicken for an instant. While I have commented in the past that I have the stomach of an ox, I must profess to never thinking that I would actually eat one.Fragile, tired and confused as we were, the highlight of the evening was approaching. A trip round the local sights. This turned out to be rather fun, if lengthy, as we 
were taken to the confluence of the Jialing and Yangtze (the picture shows me, Piao, Winnie & Simon). While the skyline is undoubtedly amazing, the most enjoyable part of the night was being able to actually use the word 'confluence' properly. When was the last time you used it, not to demonstrate your knowledge of the word, but actually use it? It has to be up there with all those other great words you learn in Geography like, ox-bow lake and lateral moraine (sp?). Unfortunately you can't hear the delightful music being played across a huge public address system, but if you think of the music in Team America put on for the world leaders at the 'Peace Summit', you'll be somewhere close.
were taken to the confluence of the Jialing and Yangtze (the picture shows me, Piao, Winnie & Simon). While the skyline is undoubtedly amazing, the most enjoyable part of the night was being able to actually use the word 'confluence' properly. When was the last time you used it, not to demonstrate your knowledge of the word, but actually use it? It has to be up there with all those other great words you learn in Geography like, ox-bow lake and lateral moraine (sp?). Unfortunately you can't hear the delightful music being played across a huge public address system, but if you think of the music in Team America put on for the world leaders at the 'Peace Summit', you'll be somewhere close.The BC delegation ("All hail the BC!") left early this morning with notes and ideas and it's back to normal for us - lunch was a delight of fried rice, tofu, shredded beef and beer. Cheap, peasant-like and not at all offending to the stomach.
Oh, and a final thing. At the evening banquet the translator announced that the EB were happy to be welcoming westerners to their beautiful city and that next week some Americans would be coming to train the teachers of Chongqing how to teach English. This did make us all wonder what they thought we were doing here...
