Chester Meetings, Saturday September 21st 2013

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2 responses to “Chester Meetings, Saturday September 21st 2013”

1. 

   November 11, 2013

   Chester Globetrotters

   Here are the reviews from the last meeting and also the talks for November

   AN ENGLISH TEACHER IN CHINA, by Ben Findley

   Our first talk was by Ben Findley, a 22 year old teacher from Bournemouth worked in China teaching English as a second language. He worked with ENGLISH FIRST (which supports 800 schools in China), in the town of YUYAO, centred around Long Shan Mountain, with a population of 1 million people.

   Prior to leaving the UK and being accepted for work, Ben needed a Letter of Invitation, a work visa and have a medical to apply for a residency permit. On arrival he shared a flat with another teacher and then came to realise what “home comforts” were all about. – Instead of a bed with a comfortable mattress, – a rough wooden bed on which to sleep. Then the culture shocks of Chinese life, – so much traffic, non-existent driving skills and constantly being stared at closely. In addition

   POTTY TRAINING of young children, who have a hole in the back of their trousers – No nappies here!- Kids are taught to squat at the side of the road!!!

   Ben, being diabetic had to research the availability of western medicines compared with their Chinese counterparts, as western medicine is extremely expensive and difficult to obtain. Food, and the Chinese way of thought also left images when he related other aspects of Chinese culture.

   As a race, people are “brainwashed” into not thinking bad thoughts, and as for food, – what don’t they eat? One “treat” was an invitation to dinner and being served ducks cheeks and also offal, which is considered a delicacy.

   Ben went on the explain the school system – Aged 4-7 years are kindergarten schools, the children having their meals of “porridge!. – meat and rice sweetened, followed by an afternoon nap.

   Aged 7-12 are EXPERIMENTAL schools- the middle school when the pressure begins. This was the age group which Ben taught and to him was the ideal age to teach. Aged 12-18 became the Institutionalised years, – pressure on children from both family and school to achieve and in high school children take the GOWCOW examination, a long exam which will determine their future entry into university, – with poor results, entry to a poor university. However the cheapest universities seem to be the best, the more expensive ones the worst. The social aspect of education appeared to be that kids want to become “BUSINESS MEN” – This achieved, you have made it!

   HOW DID BEN COPE WITH THE LANGUAGE? – He soon found that intonation is all important, – so easy to be misconstrued with the wrongly pitched sound, – could be embarrassing, particularly as in his spare time he played guitar in bars, having taught himself.

   Whilst in China Ben did also travel, to Harbin for the snow and ice festival at temperatures of -35 degrees. Shanghai, where he met up with his family and put his language skills into practice when visiting the tourist sites, and of course, The Great Wall and Beijing. – The volume of people here was astounding as was being approached by the “Tea Ladies” – NOT selling tea!! Again Ben visited the famous sites – The Summer Palace, Forbidden City and the zoo, where the animals didn’t seem to be well cared for. Here too he saw the Olympic Park which is now being used for sports development and educational purposes.

   Since his time in China Ben has now got the “travel bug” and spent time in south eastern Asian countries and South America.

   We would like to thank Ben for his talk, it was great to get some inside knowledge

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2. 

   November 11, 2013

   Chester Globetrotters

   Our second talk was the following:

   APPOINTMENT IN ZAMBIA , by Sara Dunn

   Sara’s talk was about the adventure she had 43 years ago at the age of 21 in 1970 when she travelled with her husband from the UK to Zambia overland by Hilman Hunter.
   Ross, Sara’s new husband was offered a job as a Mechanical engineer at the time.
   In the 1970’s technology was far more basic and so Sara began by quoting examples of where things stood.
   The first handheld calculator had just come on the market and set you back £200, when the average salary was probably no more than £1000 per year.
   Travel journals were kept by writing letters and keeping up diaries or a log while traveling as mobile phones or the internet simply didn’t exist then.

   The plan originally called for a boat passage including the new car to Cape Town and to drive from there to Zambia, but the ships company kept canceling their trip.
   Sara and Ross were getting so impatient with it all and decided not to delay any longer and to drive by car through Europe then Africa the whole way.
   They enquired from the AA at the time about the roads they would encounter whilst getting advice about the viability of the journey to which they were told not embark on such a journey.
   However being of sterner stuff and with a crucial schedule to meet they decided to set off anyway, with no time to loose!
   The car became living room, dining room and bedroom all in one for the length of the journey which was about 8 weeks from start to finish.
   They journeyed through Europe into North Africa, Morocco, Algeria and right through the middle Sahara.
   The roads were often bad or non-existent, with landslides and massive road ruts from trucks that had been there before. Travelling over sand, gravel plains and mud they car was found to be inadequate in all respects but despite this they persevered against the odds, going from one near disaster to another but recovering by their own ingenuity, with a little help from locals met on the way.
   Traditionally travellers stopped when meeting another car on the road and greetings and news would be exchanged, just in case of any problems ahead!
   Onwards through Nigeria, Cameroon and The Congo. On one section there simply was no bridge to cross a wide river, so improvising, some locals constructed a raft from 4 dug out canoes which were strapped together with the car driven on top.
   Miraculously they managed to cross the fast flowing river into the Congo itself but took the efforts of 20 men to get the car back over the muddy far bank and onto dry land on the other side.
   Roads were at this point more like mud tracks having left the desert well behind whilst people along the way were so helpful and friendly, freely sharing what they had.
   With little time to spare Sara and Ross arrived in Zambia, looking forward to the end of the journey to enjoy more comfortable surroundings with showers, fresh water and a good bed.
   As Sara writes in her book “APPOINTMENT IN ZAMBIA”, the journey had been a long one but they still arrived before the boat they would have taken.
   The book is an amazing account of this once in a life time adventure and recommended for its compulsive reading!

   We would like to Thank Sara for the most interesting talk, it was a wonderful way of understanding her experiences all that time ago.

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