Exams, Cycling and Steaks.

At the end of last week the students had their mid-term exams so most of my classes were cancelled on the Thursday and Friday. Thursday was an extra unexpected day off for me, Friday I had to attend one class at the end of the morning. I have a class on Friday mornings from 11.40 until 12.20, the students had finished their morning exams by that time so I had to go in and supervise them.

I arrived at the classroom, they were all busily revising for the exams they still had to take that afternoon so rather than teach I allowed them to continue revising. After about ten minutes another teacher arrived, she then said she was assisting them with their revision so I was free to go. I had been prevented from having a four day weekend because of this one class, and I was only needed for ten minutes.

I returned to my apartment and finished packing as I was going back to Jiangxi to see my wife and son for the weekend. I usually catch a local train into Wuchang station; it takes less than half an hour, as opposed to 2 hours plus on the bus and subway. This train is always packed and I usually buy my ticket in advance, so as I got on the train someone was sitting in my seat and tried telling me he had a ticket for that seat. He did have a ticket for that seat but only up to that station, he had bought a ticket to continue his journey into Wuchang, but that was not for that seat, so he eventually removed himself and I was able to sit down.

On the Saturday morning I woke up as my wife was preparing to go to work, because she is working our son goes to school every day. He enjoys going to school and so I took him off to school so he could enjoy his day playing with his friends. I got my bike out and went cycling, the first time I had been cycling for such a long time, it was enjoyable but a little cold as I did not have a hat or gloves, I intend to take these with me the next time I have a weekend with my family.

On the Sunday morning, I again took my son to his school, this time we went by bike with him secured to the child seat on a rental bike, these bikes are everywhere in China now, ideal for short journeys. They are not of the quality of the bikes I prefer to ride, no gears and a fixed wheel, I would rather have a choice of gears when riding a bike.

On the Sunday evening, just a few hours before going to catch my train back to Wuhan we went to a steak restaurant for a meal. It was great value, in addition to the steak there was an all you can eat buffet included in the price, with a good selection of food available. They also had a hot pot, the Chinese hot pot is not my favourite meal, but my wife enjoys eating it so she was happy with that while I tucked into a steak. I look forward to going there again on a future visit to Yingtan, my wife and son returned there the following evening, so it must have been good.

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