27 June 2014

Hi everyone,

Well, I couldn't stay away from the blog too long.

Vera & I are in Kuala Lumpur at the moment, visiting Caroline and Andrew and getting acquainted with our new grandson, Eddie.

Little Eddie is wondering what all the fuss is about.

Three generations.

We've suddenly gone from a busy life in Qingdao to doing not very much at all.  Feels strange to just eat, sleep, chill out and relax, and watch the World Cup highlights on TV (in English, which is a nice change!).  It's  hot and humid here, but their apartment complex has a great pool (50 metres!) so we are getting some exercise.  We have been walking to the local shops (about 1.5 km) most days to enjoy delicious Malaysian curries for lunch - yumeeee.

Alex hard at work in KL.

Anyway I thought I'd better do something useful so compiled an index of the subjects included in the 18 blog posts so far.

It has been interesting to go back through the posts and remember the things which took place over the last 5 months.  It has been a busy period.

The index of subjects is shown in the table below.  I compiled the table in Word and then copy-pasted into the blog. But the formatting turned out a little strange (the dot points should be indented) - I still have much to learn about running this blog.

Index for Post #1 to Post #18 (February to June 2014)

These posts describe our lives as English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao during the second semester of the 2013-14 academic year (February to June 2014).

Although I started this blog back in February 2014, I added the monthly "Letters from China" which I had sent to family and friends during 2013.  But the photos in those "Letters" didn't transfer over from Word, and I haven't had the time to insert them manually, so the 2013 Letters are incomplete and look a bit strange.  Maybe I should just go back and delete those Letters from the blog?  I'll think about it.

Post no. & date	Topics
Post #1 15 Feb 2014 (In KL)	Andrew helped me set up this blog when we visited Caroline and him in Kuala Lumpur in February 2014.  He convinced me that a blog is the best way to keep family and friends informed of our lives as English teachers in China. The first post includes: ·            photos of our family holiday in Hawaii in January 2014, to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary ·                photos of the cruise of the Hawaiian Islands by Vera and me ·                photos with Caroline and Andrew in KL (Caroline was 8 months pregnant)
Post #2 8 March 2014 (In Qingdao)	Teaching at China University of Petroleum, Qingdao (UPC) Terrorist attack in Kunming Ukraine crisis Kevin Rudd’s new position Meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing China’s defence budget Assessing students Where is flight MH370?
Post #3 16 March 2014	Canberra connection (Fu Ying was China’s ambassador to Australia 10 years ago) Student ‘news’ Welcome to Eddie, our new grandson, born 14 March Medical & dental issues The mystery of MH370 Ukraine crisis
Post #4 23 March 2014	Mystery of flight MH370 Girl power – visit to China by Michelle Obama, her daughters and mother Grandkids: photos of Eddie in KL and Kurt, Nate & Sid in Brisbane World’s most expensive cities World’s biggest economies Doctor – patient stress in China Has Spring arrived?
Post #5 28 March 2014	Description of China University of Petroleum, Qingdao www.upc.edu.cn My teaching schedule this semester Summary of my classes Weekly class timetable for Double Major students My teaching approach
Post #6 30 March 2014	Major news items in March 2014 (in China Daily) ·                International ·               Domestic China PM Abbott’s re-introduction of British honours Flight MH370 Kit Kat King – Paul Bulcke CEO of Nestle Vanessa Mae, renowned violinist and now Olympic skier
Post #7 6 April 2014	Flight MH370 Changes in the Cuban economy The Qing Ming (Tomb Sweeping) Festival Poetry reading Student opinions on recent issues Fast Eddie
Post #8 13 April 2014	Sun, where art thou? Surprise honour as ‘favourite foreign teacher’ Coming of age – new 5 star hotels in Huangdao A mystery: China’s property market Student comments on high school and university
Post #9 20 April 2014	Student comments about college The F-word dilemma Australia comes to town – huge business delegation My public lecture ·               Were you a spy? Visit to Ling Shan Island Shandong Educational TV Flash Eddie
Post #10 29 April 2014	Trip to Beijing for the Award Building activity around Huangdao Ranking of cities
Post #11 6 May 2014	Events which made the China Daily newspaper in April 2014 ·               International ·               Domestic Chinese Operations of China’s 4 biggest banks Time Magazine’s 2014 list of 100 most influential people in the world The Wen Zhang affair Flight MH370 Ukraine
Post #12 8 May 2014	Visit to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province In Chengdu City: Jin Li Ancient Street; Chun Xi Lu shopping precinct Leshan to see the Big Buddha (Da Fo) Du Jiang Yan, the site of Li Bing's irrigation project Qing Chen Shan, Taoist mountain Panda Research Station San Xing Dui, museum of the Shu Kingdom Cultural show at the Shu Feng Ya Yun Teahouse (special: face changing)
Post #13 18 May 2014	Potted family history ·               Photos of my mother ·               Messages from Angie and Aniko Blast from the past – Burton & Garran Hall’s 50th anniversary celebrations Student ‘Super One’
Post #14 25 May 2014	Compiling exam papers Model worker Five year rule for foreign teachers My new phone APEC comes to town (Heath McMichael) Nobel Prize List of Prolific Inventors ·                 Kia Silverbrook & Paul Lapstun Photo with UPC President Peter’s Ice Cream goes French Vale, Reg Gasnier
Post #15 2 June 2014	Duan Wu (Dragon Boat) Festival Footy Adventurer extraordinaire (Fedor Konyukhov) The China – Vietnam territorial dispute Jack Brabham, RIP What made the news in the China Daily in May 2014 ·                International ·                Domestic Chinese
Post #16 7 June 2014	Graduating class Steve’s birthday Student opinions on recent events Feedback on the semester from Double Major students China’s leading ladies ·                 Peng Li Yuan ·                Cheng Hong Eddie goes to Paris
Post #17 14 June 2014	Big month of Sport ·              World Cup starts in Brazil ·              NBA Championship won by SA Spurs ·              French Open won by Nadal and Sharapova Which part of American Culture did you find most interesting? Teaching the CNOOC group Students selling belongings Our seniors bus passes The dreaded Gao Kao The world’s most popular woman (Yao Chen) Grandkids
Post #18 22 June 2014	Campus news ·                CCTV English News channel ·                The godfather of UPC ·                Culture exam ·                Farewell to Mashine ·                Homeward bound The Queen meets the Premier Best World Cup goal ever? Spurs beat Heat to win NBA Championships What made the news in the China Daily in the first half of June 2014 ·                International ·                Domestic Chinese A bit of nostalgia (Jakarta 1972) Photo of Caroline and Eddie

Recurring international themes in this period have been the search for flight MH370 and the Ukraine crisis.  

MH370

Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on 8 March while on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.  239 people were on board including 154 Chinese and 6 Australian citizens.  

Not a trace has been found in 3 months - not a single piece of wreckage,  nothing.  How can a huge plane just disappear from the face of the earth? 

Yesterday the Australian Deputy Prime Minister, Warren Truss, announced that a new priority search area has been identified - the orange zone (covering an area of about 60,000 sq km) in the picture below, about 1,800 km due west of Perth.

Searching in the new area is expected to start in August 2014 and take about 12 months.  Mr Truss said that a Memorandum of Understanding is being negotiated between Australia and Malaysia regarding the continuing search for MH370, including financial aspects.

I wonder how long the search should continue?  Flying is so common these days that the whole world would like to know what happened to MH370.  But there must be a point when cost clearly out-weighs benefit and the search is called off.

Ukraine

The political situation in Ukraine continues to be very volatile, bordering on civil war.   What's the answer? The new Ukraine leader seems to be on the right track: in the hope of starting negotiations and avoiding further bloodshed (an estimated 400 have died in the last 2 months) he has declared a ceasefire and suggested constitutional changes such as giving regions more autonomy.

I feel for the people on the ground, both Ukrainians and those who identify with Russia, whose lives have been thrown into turmoil and who are suffering during this period of instability.

Civil wars in Syria and Iraq continue.  Poor President Obama - he is caught between a rock and a hard place.  

Makes us realise how fortunate we are in Australia, where life is relatively peaceful and calm.  A Lucky Country.

Rotary

My sister Angie became President of the Rotary Club of Narooma at the Club's 56th change-over dinner on 25 June.

Past President Charmaine handing over the reins to new President Angie.

Good luck for your presidency over the next 12 months, sis.  We're all very proud of you!


...

That's all for this post.

Best wishes, and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
During the university mid-year vacation, now in Kuala Lumpur enroute to Australia.
Friday, 27 June 2014