Nail Gnashing

I’m currently being a bit of a bad student and am 逃课ing, so I decided to come to the café downstairs and write a blog about nothing in particular; train of thought like.

The weather is beginning to pick up. I was kind of banking on this because my heating has been broken for the past two weeks or so, but I was struggling to find the motivation to get someone to fix it. I have been sleeping in my duffel coat and three pairs of socks and spending as much time as I can in other people’s houses, cafés or at work. The forecast is gradually getting warmer and will reach the dizzy heights of 25-29°C by the weekend. Nanjing changes seasons very rapidly (spring and autumn only last a week or so), so there is little doubt that I will be complaining about sweaty armpits and mosquitoes in no time.

I have finally managed to find myself a tutor I can afford. At 35元/hour he is a bargain and I have my first class with him tomorrow. The classes organised by the university are all very well but there are quite a few people, over twenty I think, and it’s just too easy to get lost in the crowd. I have also managed to get myself a language partner, and the fantastic news is that her English is terrible, so I have to speak Chinese to her. In fact, a few times I have had to force her to speak English to me (when it is her turn to practice). It’s wonderful! So often a language partner will insist on speaking English most of the time, but Mona and I; we work well together. We’re going to the movies soon. I’ll help her through an English movie and she’ll do the same with a Chinese one. This was how I learnt Spanish and French way back when, so hopefully it will work here too.

I’m still trying to find work in Spain during summer. I have some links with a hotel in Marbella, but frankly that is the last place I want to end up. Far too many leather skinned, chiwawa-carrying, liposuctioned Brits there for my liking. I want to go somewhere where there are some actual Spanish people. I am going to get in touch with a couple of people I know in Barcelona (my favourite city on the European mainland) and see if they can have a look around on my behalf for bar work or some kind of temping agency. I will literally take anything. I did apply for work experience at the British embassy in Madrid but never heard back from them. I’ll follow that up, but I am doubtful.

I have been reading up on the Digital Economy Bill recently and am planning on making a video about it. Before I do I am trying to make sure I am as informed as possible so I can lay into it properly. I am a user of an awful lot of the services that are going to be affected, probably negatively, by this bill, and I think it’s really important we are aware of it and debate it openly. I don’t like that Mandelson seems to be trying to rush it through the House of Lord before the election. Expect that video on RWO before the end of the week.

Speaking of videos, I do apologise if anyone is hanging on for more JazzainChina content. I do have lots of footage to upload (including all the Japan footage, which I am considering making yet another new channel for) but have been über busy with classes starting again, trying to find a job and a tutor, and generally living. I will try and upload some soon, but I refuse to make a commitment as to when this will happen.

Just looked back on this blog and decided it needed a picture, or something, so here is a picture of when I went on a bike ride (one that lasted far too long) to see the plumb blossom... blossom. You can see I carried George the Ukulele 2.0 with me too.

In completely unrelated news, I am trying to stop biting my nails. I have managed to reduce the gnashing of my fingertips to a gentle nibble on all fronts apart from on my thumbs, which are still as hacked to dead as they always have been. Baby steps though, eh?