Christmas Abroad

You know that you've been away a long time when you realise that your fingers have forgotten how to type.

Merry Christmas!

Visiting our Chinese half of the family is always a lovely experience, but I have to admit that it is good to be home.

"What should they know of England

who only England know?"

To me, Kipling's words used to mean "travel the world, broaden your mind".  

Now, I feel that the meaning of those words has changed to "the purpose of travelling is to remind yourself how much you love your home".

The Li river, near Guilin, is possibly the only famous sight in China that remains relatively unspoiled,
but they're working on it

After travelling the length of China, the thought of returning to our humble house became mightily appealing.  Our house may be a building site, with radiators and floors removed, but it's home.  After a few weeks, everywhere seems ghastly when compared with the halcyon aura of your home.

We arrived back in Oxford at midnight, greeted by a gentle snowstorm.  Lei's mother is staying with us, her first trip outside of China, and the city welcomed her with a full display of its snow-covered beauty.

Almost immediately afterwards, I was sent off to the south coast of Spain for a conference...

(More bad cartoons may be found on my much-neglected Facebook page, as ever)

The tropical Mediterranean climate came as rather a shock, after the snow of Beijing and England.

It takes just six minutes for the sun to rise above the horizon at this time of year

I even found that it was impossible to enjoy a restaurant surrounded by an aquarium without my dear wife to experience it with me.  Although it was rather impressive...

Fishy

I'm probably going to start adopting the practice of the late pope, HH John Paul II, and start kissing the tarmac every time I land at home.  It really is great to be back.  

I have a few tong of various decent cakes from one of my favourite shops in Beijing (run by a friend of MarshalN, no less), and some others from another decent shop in Maliandao, so please watch your mailboxes for strange samples arriving whenever I finally get around to unpacking.

Little Brother works his magic

Game Over, Man - Game Over

It seems that my DPhil examiners were careless in my viva, because they've passed me! Thanks to all those who sent comments and e-mails of support / comfort over the last week.

See you all in the New Year!

 

Dr. Hobbes circa 4 p.m. yesterday

The End of Term

Phew. That was a heavy term. Here in Blighty, we'd say "Gorblimey".

I feel exactly like this:

"Hobbes at the end of term"

I hope that your autumn has been a little easier on the nerves.

Term is very short here - just eight weeks.  The university is a catalyst; the reaction is performed quickly, and at high temperature.  It is a high-energy, exothermic process, and, while it's pleasant to bathe in the heat for a while, it can't be endured for too long.

We have a strange system here.  The senior academics are responsible for lecturing in the central departments, where lecturing is famously described as being "the transferral of course material from the notes of the lecturer to the notes of the student without passing through the brain of either".  It is the task of the junior academics (such as your exhausted correspondent) to provide actual teaching to the students, in the colleges of the university.  As one of my students recently put it, "I don't know why I attend lectures - I just sit there, look vacant, and then leave."

Dragging a small cohort of students up to a standard where they can pass (and, less commonly, excel in) final examinations is quite a heavy task.  My tactic is to be overwhelming enthusiastic, which seems to work, but gets tiring after three hours.  "O, heavy deed!" a Hamlet-loving colleague recently sighed as he slumped into his common-room chair at the end of the day.  He looked much like the above bloodhound, too, I was pleased to observe.

Despite the teaching, I amuse my students my revealing that teaching is supposed to form 20% of our workload, with the remaining 80% being research.

This hasn't left much time for drinking tea!  Add to that the fact that our house is, literally, an unheated building site, that the conservatory roof decided to collapse under the record-breaking rainfall of last month, and that the greenhouse and garden sheds were recently burgled, and you can understand the picture of the bloodhound.

And my DPhil viva (final examination / inquisition) takes place on Friday.

Thanks for the continued patience of those to whom I owe samples, and thanks also for the care packages that have been landing throughout the term - I look forward to trying them when I can unpack my tea-table, and enjoy tea again.

Half-Dipper updates will remain quiet / non-existent until mid-January, as my dear wife and I are flying to Beijing for a Christmas month with her family.

Be good, for goodness' sake!

Ding-dong merrily on high