In these days of modern media interaction and entertainment, there's always a chance for you, the viewer / reader to influence the outcome of the 'content' you're choosing to be exposed to. This influence might range from choosing who to evict from the Big Brother house to deciding which recipe you'll see from the extensive repeats of the BBC's Saturday Kitchen.
Now if we consider this blog to be entertainment, and I use the term in its broadest sense, you might wonder why I too have not accepted reader-choice in my actions and blogs. Well, this is partly because I know that given the choice of whether I should eat a round of pig testicles or have a delicious Japanese meal, you'd have me with the knife around a porker's scrotum in no time. However, considering the release of the new Harry Potter, book I understand that I'll have to work hard if I'm going to keep you readers. So in a great leap forward in internet publishing, here are some of the comments, which I shall try and attend to, sent about the blog so far:
1. We want more pictures! (of anything)
2. Don't use letters of more than six letters so I don't need a dictionary
3. Stop moaning so much [this one from Mr Pot to me, Mr Kettle]
4. The spelling's appalling
So let's address each of these in turn:
1. Easily done. Here's a water melon juice shop.
2. A tough one, but I'll try from here on in, although this problem may relate to point 4.
3. It's great here. I love the fact it's so cheap. I could get a taxi to the coast if I wanted all the way to the sea for just ten pounds. And the types of food you can get is superb. All the parts of an animal in most food shops. Good, eh?
4. I blame a mix of the computer, with its crazy moving cursor which sends my text all over the place, and the keyboard, which could be considered unresponsive with certain keys, at best. As for that expression about a bad workman and his tools, I don't think I know it. [Right. Had a look through a few entries and I think calling them spelling mistakes is a bit tight. 'Typographical errors' would be more appropriate, wouldn't you say?]
Considering 'Comment 2', I've decided it's too difficult. No go on that one. Read Harry Potter then.
There hasn't been to much else happening outside of work so I'll fill you in there. The lady from the hotel where we're doing our training is kind enough to provide flasks of hot water at the back of the training room for the course participants and me (although I think it's her job). Very good. Curious thing is, there's just hot water; no tea; no coffee; no chicken bits. Asking the participants about this, and the lack of cold water, I was surprised to hear that drinking room temperature or cool water is bad for you and that only hot water will do for Mr Stomach. The other, nasty cold stuff will give you stomach ache. Curiously, I've found it the other way round so far, but maybe it's just me and my delicate western ways rather than the bits floating in the water. Note, this isn't a moan but a fact. I do appreciate the water as it does stop the thirst. 
Any thoughts on this, please send to the usual address. But there's a view of the classroom to the right (for anyone that notices the few asleep at the back, they are actually resting as it's a break and not while I'm teaching. They need the rest after I worked them so hard in the session. We'll break 'em sooner or later).
Any thoughts on this, please send to the usual address. But there's a view of the classroom to the right (for anyone that notices the few asleep at the back, they are actually resting as it's a break and not while I'm teaching. They need the rest after I worked them so hard in the session. We'll break 'em sooner or later).The course participants (CP) themselves have far excelled those in Choongqing. For a start, they attend and even take notes. As this training kicks off early and is in their holidays, you can only commend them for that. If we contrast them with their bosses (head teachers), whose job it is to marshal CPs, assist trainers and also attend sessions, they're absolutely incredible. Two of the four head teachers like to arrive late, get drunk at lunch and then disrupt afternoon sessions by trying to team-teach while hacking up pieces of animal from their large lunch before disappearing for the rest of the day. Naturally, after all that, you'd understand the need for them to renegotiate their fees to ask for more, wouldn't you?
In an interesting turn, while resting in the hotel's coffee bar, one of the drunken heads pitched up and regaled me with a fascinating story about a girl in Wuhan's past who pretended to be a man, joined the army, beat all the army's enemies and then became a general. And all this was for the love of her father... His style was quite dramatic and I got the impression that his afternoon drinks had fueled his volume. The whole performance, in the quiet bar, was replete with grand gestures and theatrical pausing, leaving me thinking that it was a terrible shame I didn't have the camera handy to record it. It would've been 250 quid on You've Been Framed.
In some truly good news, while searching for an open bar to get a beer after training, I happened across a supermarket selling cans of beer for 12 1/2 pence (2 RMB). 
Now if this wasn't enough, the can was one of the old-school ('old-skool'?) ones with a pull ring-piece. And yet there's more - it comes with a fun and relevant bit of English blurb on the side, complete with passive sentence construction. Look, you can see it pictured. Put the specs on and have a read. Honestly, it's almost worth it. Have to be careful on this stuff, though, as it's a whole 3 1/2%.
Now if this wasn't enough, the can was one of the old-school ('old-skool'?) ones with a pull ring-piece. And yet there's more - it comes with a fun and relevant bit of English blurb on the side, complete with passive sentence construction. Look, you can see it pictured. Put the specs on and have a read. Honestly, it's almost worth it. Have to be careful on this stuff, though, as it's a whole 3 1/2%. Saturday, eh? What for dinner? Call the highly priced number to register your vote:
a) Delicious Japanese food, again - 00 (81) 133 4188 3012
b) Fried rice and boiled egg - 00 (81) 133 4188 3013
c) Varied intestines - 00 (81) 133 4188 3014
