China Life #8

 November 22, 2025

Hello again,

The weather has finally cooled down and I am actually wearing jeans and a sweatshirt right now as I type this. It has been a wonderful change.

Last weekend Kieran flew off to Chengdu with the school's cross-country team so that he could race in ACAMIS, which is some sort of acronym for international schools all around China that I can't remember. It went well; he came in fifth out of all of the boys from grades 9-12! I think there were about 40 racers, and he was less than 2 minutes behind the first-place runner (who happened to be his roommate and another UISG student). I'm pretty sure his magic Hong Kong shoes were the reason he was so fast.

While he was away I decided to take Noémie to Zhaoqing for a night, which is east of here. I had heard that it is a pretty area with karst formations, caves, and lakes. I booked us a cheap hotel (a third of the price of the disaster where Kieran and I stayed the week prior in Hong Kong!) which was lovely-- two big beds, a giant soaker tub, a patio, electric curtains, a large-screen TV suspended from the ceiling, and breakfast included. We had some adventures locating food on the Friday night (ended up ordering in to our room after wandering aimlessly down a highway for 5 km) but the following day we went to see the 7-Star Crags scenic area and it was loads of fun! Fortunately we were met by a very eager park attendant who wanted to practice her English on us, and so she explained the various things that we could buy tickets for and how to get around. We opted to do 4 of the 5 adventures, got our tickets, and set off. The adventures consisted of walking through wetlands (we passed on the glass-bottomed boat ride), taking a boat through "the Longest Cave", taking a "bamboo raft" ride on the lake (it was plastic and motorized but I could pretend it was an actual bamboo raft), going through "The Biggest Cave" and "The Self-Driving Tour"-- which was hilarious little bumper-boats that looked like giant rubber ducks. The caves were fascinating: all lit up with coloured lights.

Unfortunately Noémie had a lot of studying to do so she was eager to get back to Guangzhou. So we caught an early afternoon train on Saturday and headed back home. 

The rest of the week passed rather uneventfully. We are all looking forward to Winter Break. For some reason the Chinese government rather suddenly decided to crack down on any public Christmas celebrations, so two of our choir concerts that had been scheduled at hotels were canceled. We are kind of anticipating that another one will also get axed, but so far the plaza/mall that has asked us to come still says that they're going to keep us booked.

On Monday we had a rather sombre staff meeting when Chantelle, the beloved primary principal who both hired me and was a major deciding factor in me taking this position, announced her resignation. As of June she will be gone and that will leave a major hole in the primary school. To say that I'm upset is an understatement. I won't discuss school politics in this public forum, but there's a lot that she has shielded us from and I have never worked with a stronger administrator. People who have been here for the past 3+ years say that she has absolutely turned the place around.

This upcoming Friday is a holiday, so I am looking forward to exploring Yangshuo with the kids. More on that in the next instalment!