Hello!

Here are some news after yesterday's chinese group. I had to go a restaurant in Chinatown. People were around a table to talk. When I arrived there were already a few people and in the end there were only 3 people from Europe,
all the others were from China, Japan, etc.

I didn't really have any aim, no words in particular I wanted to learn, since I don't know anything about Chinese. I started with calligraphy by writing the words for sky and moon and then I've been taught about numbers from 1 to 10... well to 99 since it's really to make up when you know the numbers from 1 to 10: 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十. The hardest part is to get the tones and how to pronounce the "letters" because it is sometimes way different from our european languages. I also learnt the different ways of saying what my name was and how to ask for tea. By the way, later today I'll be going to get some tea at Xu's, I have to try and ask her in her own language just to impress her.

I've had my name written on a band of paper. Well, it's not really my name but ah well, it's nice. I put on my bedroom door. It means Olive tree - there is no translation for my real name in Chinese, names there have a meaning, which is not always the case for our names in Europe. In short, the name is pronounced gan lan shu and it is the name of a nice song (the name of the author is at the bottom of the paper).

The session ended a bit before 4pm and I had the opportunity of teaching some French to the people next to me at table; They were 2 girls who told me they liked French and that they dreamt on going to France. But where? Haha in Paris of course! What a surprise, ... everyone always gives the same answer. paris is not the only place in France! It's the same thing when I'm asked about where I come from... "Paris?" Anyway. Then I went to town to get a few things and then joined the boys who were playing table tennis. I must say that the Chinese REALLY are the best at that sport.

At night, we went to a Chinese restaurant. The food wasn't bad but I've had better before. But what was cool there was the decor: we were in a kind of private room with a big flat screen and a karaoke. We ate a lot, sang a lot (the only French song was a Celine Dion song. Oh joy, I broke my voice by trying to sing the highest notes), and had a pleasant evening.

I couldn't finish my article without adding a picture of the arch at the entrance of Chinatown. That's one of the biggest in Europe (the picture is not by me)


See you soon!

Last night, November the 3rd, I went to Xu's in order to eat some of her dumplings and other Chinese dishes. There were many people there, in such a small dinning room. I really loved the food! There were dumplings, as I said, but also sweet potatoes, chicken with all sorts of vegetables, oh my word, there was sooo much to eat! And then we spent the rest of the night talking and exchanging idioms from our different languages (there were people from Hong Kong, England, France - haha - Japan, China, etc.) And then the guys asked us if we wanted to go for a walk in town. To be honest, I had never seen that many drunk people at the same time. I already knew the Brits were drinking a lot but I didn't know it was like that! And the girls were all dressed like it was 30° outside, maybe it's the alcohol that makes them feel warm! Anyway, the city centre, on a Saturday night, is not for me. But I must say, the city is nice at night and we had good fun with the guys.

Today was a more calm day. This morning, when I opened my curtains, here is what I saw:

Yeah, a nice and thick fog like I never see in the South of France. It was rather thick and I could hardly see the rugby field. It took a little while to clear (by about 2pm it was all gone).

This afternoon, I went back to town in order to have that walk I had thought of: getting to the end of the river. But well, there is no way you can follow a path along the riverside and since the weather was getting a bit cloudy, I decided not to continue. So at first, I stayed around Pier Head.

I entered St Nicholas Church gardens. Who is St Nicholas? He is the patron saint of sailors and that's why he's been chosen for this church since it's in front of the river, which is not far from the sea. The garden itself is quite nice, but I believe it'll be even better at spring time, of course.


Last night, we went through the Cavern district - I already mentionned that place. You can get the feeling of that time in Matthew Street. I'll show you pictures I've taken on my way from the Pier to there.


Yeah, I know, you can't see much on that picture but you can still perceive the names of the 4 Beatles in the middle of the photo. This wall actually shows all the famous people who came to play at the Cavern Club. Some are really famous like Queen or The Who - it's a mythical place, isn't it?

And here is Matthew Street:

Hi!
The day didn't start great today because it was pouring down around 6am. I had planned to go for a walk on the riverside and now it was over. But in the end, the sun came back a few hours laters and my plans were back on track. By the way, the weather is so changing here that it's impossible to plan stuff a long time before like in my home region in France. You can wake up in the morning with a nice sunshine and then, 2 hours later, it could be raining cats and dogs and then 2 hours later it could be sunny again. Crazy!
The weather looking better, I decided to walk along the River Mersey and to get to Albert Dock like I had mentionned last time. The journey was making me go through Sefton Park where there were many runners.


And then, after a little while, I got to the promenade along the river, which was really quiet. I like to walk there because it's refreshing. You can smell the sea spray because the sea isn't too far away and it's kind of windy anyway. I have a small cold at the moment and I really enjoy being able to breathe a little! But you must not forget your scarf before that. And it makes me realise that people here are mad because some of them were wearing nothing but t-shirts! :)


Quite regularly on the promenade, you can see anchors. Maybe that is to remind people that Liverpool could develop thanks to its port.


I left the house at about 2.20 and I got to Albert Dock at about 4.15. I can't say I rushed, I just had a nice walk. I was taking the most of the view although it's not that great because on the other side, there are lots of industries.


At first I had thought I could maybe walk back home but after walking on cobblestones for such a long time, my feet were crying out for a bit of rest. So instead I took the bus home and anyway, it was already getting darker. In order to treat me after such a long walk, I got myself a hot chocolate in Starbucks. I like Starbucks but I think their drinks are too oily. Yeah, it's nice to get some whipped cream at the top of your drink, but then you get that after taste of butter that is not so great.
In the end, I walked for about 10 km today between the college, the promenade along the river and the way between Albert Dock and the bus stop in town, in front of St Johns shopping centre (who already wishes us a Merry Christmas, by the way). After all, I wasn't that tired and if there hadn't been that many cobblestones my feet wouldn't have hurt me, and then I could have walked home. But after all, that might have been for the best cos otherwise I would have been stuck in the middle of a shower. Yeah, that's another evidence about the local changing weather.

See you people! I'm going back to work on Tuesday but I might do something before then if the weather is not too bad.