I've been having technical problems this week. Well, not so much technical problems as geography problems, or maybe political problems. I couldn't understand why I could no access my blog. I thought at first there was a problem with my computer, or maybe the hotel's internet, or even with the blogspot server. No, it isn't that. The Chinese government has blocked all access to blogs, unless it has prior government approval. As someone not deterred by little challenges like government censorship, I spent a bit of time this week trying to get round it. I created a Chinese-approved blog at http://rcrofts.blogbus.com, but the site is very slow to load with only one compressed photo on it. It was very interesting trying to read the Chinese instructions!! (Thanks go to www.babelfish.com for all their help.) Due to the slow load time, and lack of Chinese reading expertise, I needed another solution. I have found a way to surf anonymously, or at least a way to stop being identified as being in China and so subject to blocks. I can now access my blog. This time thanks go to www.anonymouse.org I don't know how long I'll be able to keep using it, but hopefully long enough. So, now I can see my blog, but now I can't add to it from China! Huh. If you're reading this, it's because somebody has posted it for me.
Technical problems seem to be a theme this week. My mum bought my Christmas present for me last weekend. Do you know how bizarre it is to be thinking about Christmas when I'm sitting in my shorts? It's a balmy 24 degrees at the moment, and only 7 weeks until Christmas! I'm assured that the nice weather will continue until mid-December. Autumn came late to Shanghai this year (autumn is when the weather changes from 35 degrees to 25 degrees), the latest in living memory. Maybe I'll still be in my shorts in January?? So, for Christmas, my mum bought me an MP4 player. That's a gadget that you can use to look at photos, listen to music (like MP3) and watch films/TV programmes. It's especially useful for showing photos to your pals without carrying about your computer – also good for whiling away the commute. After mum bought the gadget, which involved me going to the electronics market, choosing, haggling, learning how to use it (Chinese not good enough for those instruction booklets!!), persuading them to reset the language to English, then phoning mum up to tell her what she'd bought me, I brought it home to play with. Hmm, it didn't work as it should. After a couple of hours, I gave up and took it back – guess what, they couldn't get it to work either. They tried for 20 frustrating minutes, but no, I needed a replacement. That took another 10 minutes, and when it arrived – it didn't work either!! A second replacement appeared 15 minutes after that, by which time I was nearly ready to give up. It works, so the other night I was standing on the metro watching Michael Palin's Full Circle – he was in Shanghai!!!
On Tuesday night I went out for a meal with some of the folks from the office. Yes, me and 4 Chinese blokes! I had a great time. We went straight from work, so were sitting waiting to tuck in by 5 o'clock. Of course it was a Chinese restaurant. It's a bit strange, but whenever I eat out in nice Chinese places, we never eat rice or noodles. In the cheaper places, you always eat rice, but otherwise no. The specialty of the place we went to was fish. Shen Jian ordered for us, and had to disappear during the ordering process. I tried not to think about it, but he went off to choose which fish we would be eating. In some places they put your chosen fish in a plastic box and bring it to the table for you to confirm your choice. I'm just a bit squeamish and prefer to disassociate my food from its source. The fish was good though!!! One of the dishes was particularly good; although I'm sure it was just because of the familiarity – battered and deep fried! Shame it didn't come with chips!!!
Just to round off my week of technical problems, there were problems with the computer system at work on Friday afternoon. I needed to spend the afternoon doing some stuff, but no luck! So, I'm going in tomorrow instead. That should be a bit of an adventure, as there will be no bus to pick me up at the hotel and drop me at the factory. I'll tell you about it next week!
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