CLOSING DOWN FOR THE WINTER

 As Chinese New Year approaches the Universities begin to close down for the winter break. A subtle change occurs as slowly, the food shacks around the area begin to either limit their opening hours or close down. There is a shift in the atmosphere as at times, there are fewer people about. On most days the heavy smogs continue to blanket the area, causing people to cancel non-essential plans involving travel. I organise two meals out with Chinese friends and am very disappointed when these are cancelled owing to the poor visibility. Sometimes the area is alive with people, at others quiet and and downbeat. A steady migration of students with wheeled suitcases begins: a phenomenon that I observed last year. This will gradually increase until it becomes an ant-like procession, almost a swarm, of movement.

  

 I continue with my preparations for my Guangxi journey, making advance hotel bookings online. I have come to rely wholly on my computer: it would be a disaster if anything were to go wrong with it: perhaps I shouldn't tempt fate by saying so!

I become anxious: there is something about the pace of Chinese city life, and also the time of the year that is stressful: exams, marking and travel preparations combine to create an anxiety-inducing situation. It's hard to cope with at times!

 There are fewer shacks to sit and have a beer in now, and some colleagues are leaving China soon. There is a developing air of things closing down. I see a few people when I can, and have more or less stopped cooking elaborate meals: I just don't have the time or energy, although I do make a big paella which I eventually freeze as potential lunches next term. Sadly when I do this I make a large quantity of fish stock and when I pour it into a glass heat-proof bowl, the bowl explodes and floods my kitchen with fish stock! So the time I would have spent cooking is spent cleaning it up! I suppose the bowl must have become brittle over time: Sarah tells me this happens occasionally. However it is very annoying to have to mop up your lovingly-crafted food from the floor!

I settle for a prawn cocktail or two!

 I store my Christmas tree away: I'll have to find a home for it next year when I go back to England, and I spend as much time as I can preparing. This means printing travel information and shopping. I need a new diary and a carrying case for my Nikon camera which I'm still learning to use! I manage to get these in town: there is a photographic shop there, it's a fairly long journey unfortunately but necessary. I also buy a new wheeled suitcase as my old one is becoming somewhat battered owing to fairly frequent use!

 There is something of a party season and a few people organise some evenings out. For some time I've been trying to organise a duck banquet but haven't been able to get it off the ground. So I email a few people I know from the pub to suggest the idea again and await a response of some kind. What eventually transpires is rather odd: some colleagues are looking to organise an evening out as well, but are unsure what form this will take. By the time my pub friends come back to me they suggest a Tuesday night: I'd originally wanted a weekend but I think some of them were away. So I give them the address of the restaurant. By this time my colleagues have also arranged an evening out: on the same evening, at the same restaurant! What is more both groups want to go out afterwards and have a singalong in a Karaoke bar! Well I can't attend both parties and feel like Solomon: very awkward. In the end I go out with the first group for the meal and the second group for the singalong. I feel like the Robin Williams character in the film “Mrs Doubtfire” where he has to attend two meals in the same restaurant. But as the party rooms are separate this does not prove to be too embarrassing and everyone is OK with it.

  

  

 There is little left to do now, except obtain my return ticket from Guilin to Beijing which has still not been released. At the time of writing they are expected to be released at 1700 hours today., Wednesday January 11^th 2017. I do feel anxious to get this sorted out, so I'm going to try and book it online: if that fails I will need to ask the help of my students or a friend! For the present I'm looking at spending my time washing clothes, packing, cleaning and last-minute shopping.